The Boulder County Sheriff`s Office on Monday will reveal the reconstructed likeness of the woman, whose naked and battered body was found 51 years ago in Boulder Canyon.

Sheriff Joe Pelle said he hopes the image of Jane Doe will help solve the mystery of her identity and perhaps lead detectives to her killer.

Forensic experts and sheriff`s detectives in summer 2004 exhumed Jane Doe`s body from her grave in Boulder`s historic Columbia Cemetery.

Forensic anthropologists reassembled the skull, which had been crushed in the grave. Frank Bender, a nationally known forensic sculptor and co-founder of the Vidocq Society, reconstructed the victim`s facial features based on her bone structure. He will present Jane Doe`s reconstructed face and head at a Monday press conference.

Two University of Colorado students hiking along the banks of Boulder Creek in April 1954 stumbled across Jane Doe`s body about 300 yards south of the Boulder Falls pull-off. An autopsy concluded Jane Doe was alive when she was dumped down the 29-foot embankment and died after being exposed to the elements. Her 5 feet, 3 inch, 100-pound body also had been severely beaten.

Silvia Pettem, a Boulder historian and Daily Camera columnist, will give a presentation about the history and investigation of Jane Doe`s case.

"It`s like the last piece of a puzzle," she said Thursday. "It`s what we`ve been waiting for."

Pettem first noticed Jane Doe`s grave nine years ago, and last year she helped persuade the Sheriff`s Office to reopen the homicide case.

The headstone - which reads "Jane Doe. April 1954. Age about 20 years" - gripped Pettem at the "gut level," she said.

Pettem, like sheriff`s officials, hopes the reconstructed image of Jane Doe will bring tips about the woman`s identity.

"My intention all along has been to put a name on her grave or return her to her family," she said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at (303) 473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.