Jane Doe was the name given to a slender young woman whose naked and beaten body was found by two hikers in Boulder Canyon on April 8, 1954. Her face had been ravaged (by animals) beyond recognition, and intense publicity failed to bring forward anyone who knew her. Local citizens called her their "mystery girl," and they raised the funds for a plot, gravestone, and Christian funeral.

"We don't know who she was or what religion she followed," stated Coroner George Howe at the time. "We can only do what we think is right."

Fifty years later, in June 2004, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office exhumed Jane Doe's remains in the hopes that she could finally be identified with modern forensics. Her casket had disintegrated underground, and each bone was removed piece by piece -- a two-day process that resembled an archeological dig.

The victim's DNA was extracted from one of her teeth, and the subsequent profile was funded by another generation of generous donors. The process ruled out two missing women -- Marion Joan McDowell and Twylia May Embrey. A forensic anthropologist reassembled Jane Doe's skull, and a forensic artist sculpted a facial reconstruction, shown to a national audience on the television show "America's Most Wanted."

A group of six researchers, connected by the Internet but spread out all over the country, then began to whittle down a list of missing young women, finally settling on Katharine E. Farrand Dyer. The Denver elevator operator's physical description matched that of the victim, and she had been reported missing 13 days before Jane Doe's body was found. After that, her trail stopped cold.

Five months ago, a forensic anthropologist at Michigan State University compared Dyer's photograph to a cast of Jane Doe's reassembled skull. The two images matched so closely that Dyer could not be ruled out as Jane Doe.

Investigators today have much more information on Jane Doe than did their predecessors in 1954, but no family members of Dyer's have been found, so no DNA comparison has been made.

The Sheriff's Office was in charge of the re-interment, in coordination with Boulder City Parks officials who maintain Columbia Cemetery. Crist Mortuary generously provided a casket and vault and arranged for the opening and closing of the grave. A brief graveside service was officiated by Rev. Andy Wineman, a chaplain from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.

Red gladioli from Sturtz & Copeland Florists were placed on her grave and replicated the same flowers sent "to someone's daughter" in 1954.

Although Dyer's name cannot be engraved on her stone until a positive DNA identification is made, the case remains open and a search for the victim's family continues.

To reach Silvia Pettem, write her at the Camera, P.O. Box 591, Boulder 80306, or e-mail pettem@earthlink.net.