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As she pushes open the wrought-iron gate at Boulder鈥檚 Columbia Cemetery,听Silvia Pettem听(A&S鈥�69) looks like she is coming home. She cradles a bundle of yellow daisies in one arm and glances warmly across a sea of weathered tombstones. A cool gust blows back her shoulder-length auburn hair, as if to welcome her.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean to sound too wacko,鈥� she says, speaking bluntly as she often does. 鈥淏ut sometimes I even come and have my lunch here. I feel like I鈥檓 among friends.鈥�

In a sense, she is.

In the course of her decades-long career as a local history writer, the colorful 63-year-old has gotten to know many of the inhabitants of this grassy 10-acre burial ground. There鈥檚 Mary Rippon, the CU professor who had a secret affair and bore a child with one of her students in the late 1800s; Tom Horn, a hired gunman who was wrongfully hanged for murder in 1903; and Marietta Kingsley, a notorious madam from Boulder鈥檚 19th century red light district.

But while the others fed Pettem鈥檚 lifelong curiosity about history, none changed her life like the woman Boulderites knew 鈥� until recently 鈥� as 鈥淛ane Doe.鈥�

鈥淚 feel like I know her,鈥� Pettem says, as she kneels to gather a handful of crisp dead rose petals by her tombstone and replaces them with fresh flowers.

A born historian

From the day in 1996 when Pettem discovered the humble grave marker etched with the words 鈥淛ane Doe: April 1954: Age baby直播app 20 Years,鈥� she has spent nearly 14 years investigating the crime. She scoured newspaper archives, court and coroner records and genealogy sites in hopes of identifying the mystery woman and bringing her murderer to justice. In the process, she has evolved from a middle-aged mom with zero police training into a lauded cold-case investigator called upon by law enforcement agents nationwide.

In May her work paid off when the victim鈥檚 surviving family members joined her at the cemetery to replace the 鈥淛ane Doe鈥� headstone with one bearing the woman鈥檚 true name 鈥� Dorothy Gay Howard.

Now, with the mystery solved and her book听Someone鈥檚 Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe听(Taylor Trade Publishing) nominated for a baby直播app Book Award, the biggest question facing Pettem is: What鈥檚 next?

鈥淎t the age of 63 I have found my life鈥檚 work,鈥� she says.

Pettem was born in 1947 in Lancaster, Pa., the only child of an electrical engineer and a 鈥渉omemaker who didn鈥檛 like housework.鈥� She grew up in the suburbs in an ultramodern home she hated.

鈥淚 never felt comfortable there,鈥� she says, tracing her affinity for all things antique back to her early youth.

When she landed in Boulder in 1965 as a CU psychology major, she found herself drawn to the area鈥檚 historic buildings, rugged mountain towns and rich pioneer history. Rather than observe them from a distance, she immersed herself, moving into a tiny Fourmile Canyon cabin with no electricity or running water where she cooked on a wood stove, sewed quilts and raised two daughters.

鈥淟iving up there in that environment really got me interested in who came before me,鈥� she recalls.

Since then she鈥檚 written a dozen local history books, including听Separate Lives: The Story of Mary Rippon听(Book Lode) and听Behind the Badge: 125 Years of the Boulder Police Department听(Book Lode), as well as countless history columns for the Boulder听Camera.

But on Oct. 5, 1996, her 鈥渞elatively ordinary鈥� life took an unexpected twist. While playing the part of Mary Rippon during a 鈥淢eet the Spirits鈥� event at Columbia Cemetery, Pettem listened intently as an actor playing Jane Doe told Doe鈥檚 story:

鈥淧lease give me back my name. No one knows who I am or how I came to die 鈥� battered, beaten and naked on the rocky edge of Boulder Creek. I was found in April 1954 by two college students out on a hike. My murderer, whoever he was, was brutal and vicious, but the people of Boulder gave me a Christian funeral . . .鈥�

鈥淢y first thought was that could be my daughter,鈥� recalls Pettem, whose daughters were 19 and 23 at the time. 鈥淚 thought to myself, 鈥楴o one should go to the grave without a name.鈥欌��

Searching for Jane Doe

In the coming years, Pettem managed to track down the woman鈥檚 missing autopsy report and photos and reconstruct much of what happened to her via brittle newspaper clippings, phone interviews and internet research. She enrolled in a 12-week Citizens鈥� Academy to learn about the inner workings of the criminal justice system and sit in on police officer training classes. And she regularly visited the rocky Boulder Creek shore 鈥� just 300 yards downstream from the Boulder Falls parking lot 鈥� where Jane Doe鈥檚 body was found.

In 2003, with a bulging file in hand, she knocked on the office doors of Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle and then Lieutenant Phil West to ask if they would be willing to exhume Jane Doe鈥檚 body and reopen the case.

They obliged, well aware of the daunting task ahead.

鈥淔rankly, for that period of time, our files are non-existent. There is a big blank in documentation through the 1960s,鈥� West says. 鈥淚t was only through Silvia鈥檚 diligence that we were able to reconstruct what became the case file.鈥�

Pettem proceeded to open a donation fund and raised several thousand dollars from interested Boulder citizens and beyond to help pay for the exhumation. She also enlisted the help of Vidocq Society members (forensic specialists who volunteer to help solve cold murder cases) who donated their time and expertise over the years.

On a foggy June morning in 2004, a backhoe scraped away the dirt in Columbia Cemetery to reveal a disintegrated coffin and the exposed remains of Jane Doe. As officers wrapped police tape around the scene, Pettem found herself on the inside of the tape, standing by the open grave looking in. 鈥淚t was exhilarating,鈥� she admits.

A forensic sculptor used Jane Doe鈥檚 remains to craft a 3-D image of what she looked like, and soon it was appearing everywhere from听笔别辞辫濒别听magazine听to听America鈥檚 Most Wanted. Finally, after several heartbreaking false leads and years of wondering, Pettem got her answer on Oct. 23, 2009.

DNA tests had confirmed that Jane Doe was Dorothy Gay Howard, a strong-willed Phoenix teen who left home in 1953 possibly to visit an aunt who lived in Denver鈥檚 Capitol Hill area. She never arrived.

While the case remains open, Pettem and West suspect Howard encountered convicted serial killer Harvey Glatman in Denver. (Ligature marks shown in Doe鈥檚 morgue photographs are similar to those left on the three women Glatman was convicted of murdering. He was executed in 1959.)

On May 22, Howard鈥檚 surviving sister, Marlene Ashman of Polk County, Ark., traveled to Boulder to bid final farewell to her sister and provide her with a tombstone etched with her name.

鈥淎t least people here were kind enough to love her and give her some dignity,鈥� Ashman told reporters.

What鈥檚 next?

Standing by that gravestone today, Pettem can鈥檛 help but feel a sense of melancholy. Her relationship with Howard鈥檚 family has been more distant than she had hoped for.

鈥淔rom the day I first walked into the sheriff鈥檚 office and said 鈥業 want to return these remains to the family鈥� I looked forward to the day I would meet them,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it hasn鈥檛 been a warm relationship. Maybe it鈥檚 just too soon.鈥�

And after so many years of dogged pursuit, 鈥渋t has left a big gap in my life now that it鈥檚 solved.鈥�

But that void will likely soon fill.

Already Pettem has been credited with assisting in another Boulder County cold case, helping to locate the killer (now deceased) in the 1970 homicide of an 18-year-old named Harold Nicky Nicholson. She鈥檚 also teaching courses to local law enforcement agencies, writing for forensic magazines and juggling invitations from around the country to help in unsolved crimes.

鈥淚 may have found my next project,鈥� she says, keeping mum about the details.

And this one, she quips, won鈥檛 take 14 years.