A decades-long search for Jane Doe's real name
But one Snohomish County detective has never given up hope of determining her identity so that her family can finally bury any last doubts.
"She was just buried here in an unmarked grave," said Det. Jim Scharf.
In August 1977, a girl hitchhiked near Silver Lake. A man picked her up, tried to rape her, strangled her, then shot her in the head.
Blackberry pickers found the body days later.
"The trauma to the head and decomposition made her face unrecognizable," said Scharf.
Police caught the killer, and he went to prison. But investigators never could identify the girl.
The detective won't give up, and a crime lab in Fort Worth, Texas may hold the key.
The Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas is a world leader in DNA research.
Scharf sent Jane Doe's thigh bone to the DNA lab.
"And we could type them. We might give them a lead that would help them solve this case," said Dr. Bruce Budowle.
Lab technicians sawed the femur into smaller fragments, then mixed the shards with liquid nitrogen to powderize the bone and extract the DNA.
From a single bone, scientists can reconstruct not just height and weight, but also eye color, skin color and even the shape of a face.
"I could actually take a leg bone and no skull. If I had enough information, ( I could) create some imagery or some characteristics," said Budowle.
The lab reaches back across the decades to give answers to today's investigators. It has been able to identify more than 400 John and Jane Does so far.
But thousands of other cases are waiting to be solved.
"These are individuals," said the UNT center's George Adams of the unidentified bodies. "They will never be forgotten."
Snohomish County investigators have worked up a facial reconstruction for Scharf's Jane Doe. And UNT has her DNA profile.
Every DNA profile developed by UNT goes into a growing database called Namus. There, the data is checked against missing persons cases.
The lab's work is essential because when victims go unidentified, killers get away with murder. Gary Ridgway took advantage of mishandled missing persons cases to keep up his killing spree for years.
Jane Doe's killer was caught, but Scharf still wants to give the girl back her name.
So far, the UNT lab hasn't been able to identify Jane Doe. So for now, Scharf is relying on the clues he does have.
"This is a photograph of her watch," said Scharf.
Her clothes include a tank top with no bra, men's Mr. Sneaker-brand size-7 shoes.
Dental records show restorations on two front teeth, and experts place her between 15 and 21 years old.
Scharf still hopes he can track down the right family member to submit the sample and make the match. Only then can Jane Doe go home.
"If we get the word out there, we're going to solve this sooner or later," Scharf said.
Across the state, 112 unidentified bodies are waiting to be buried under their own name. Twenty eight of them are murder victims.
There are 40,000 such cases nationwide.
