Someone's Daughter

In Search of Justice for Jane Doe

By (author) Silvia Pettem

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 December 2009

Length of book:

300 pages

Publisher

Taylor Trade Publishing

ISBN-13: 9781589794207

In 1954, two college students were hiking along a creek outside of Boulder, Colorado, when they stumbled upon the body of a murdered young woman. Who was this woman? What had happened to her? The initial investigation turned up nothing, and the girl was buried in a local cemetery with a gravestone that read, "Jane Doe, April 1954, Age About 20 Years."

Decades later, historian Silvia Pettem formed a partnership with law enforcement and forensic experts and set in motion the events that led to Jane Doe's exhumation and eventual identification, as well as the identity of her probable killer. The 2023 paperback edition includes an epilogue with updated information on how the mystery finally was solved.

With a journalist's flair for language and a historian's eye for detail, Silvia Pettem takes her readers through all of the twists and turns of a real-life murder mystery spanning fifty years, leading from an exhumed grave in Colorado to San Quentin's gas chamber. Someone's Daughter—replete with frustrating dead ends and tantalizing breakthroughs—is a compelling and accurate glimpse into the world of cold-case investigations.