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.
Cold case investigations, by definition, require digging into the past, but not all are as thoroughly researched as Someone's Daughter. This Jane Doe case documents a unique partnership between law-enforcement, the forensic community, and a historian who worked together—and got the job done.
Silvia Pettem is a real-life Agatha Christie.
Silvia Pettem has written a book the reader will remember long after the last page has been turned. The power of her writing left me shaken and in grief for Jane Doe. I am already looking forward to her next book.
