On March 10th, 1985, a young woman would be found dead on a roadside in the American Southwest.
A group of three rabbit hunters out patrolling an area off County Road E73 about twenty miles from Hatch, New Mexico stumbled upon the partial skeletal remains of a human being, scattered beneath a layer of thin black plastic in a shallow grave. Though much of the body was never recovered, pathologists were able to determine that the victim was a slim white female between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, with blonde to light brown hair. She was clad in pink underwear, a pink bra from which the underwire had become detached, and a white, Wilson brand sweatshirt with three-quarter-length sleeves. Two of her fingernails were also painted pink.
Notable features included a nose that had been broken at some point in the past but had subsequently healed; and an unusual “wasting” of the second and third lumbar of the spine, an anomaly not commonly seen in teenagers. Because of her designer clothing and expensive dental work, it was almost certain that she was not a transient, and had been well cared for by her family. Authorities surmised that the girl had been murdered approximately three to six months before her remains were unearthed, though the specific cause of death is not known.
Dubbed Doña Ana County Jane Doe or Upham Girl, the victim remained unidentified until August of 2022, at which point authorities announced that the individual was sixteen-year-old Dorothy Harrison of Wichita, Kansas. According to her parents, she had left home and had been traveling with some friends to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. She called them from there in August or September of that year and told them she was coming back to Wichita shortly, but never arrived.
Investigators told the media that Dorothy was last seen getting into a long, tan car with two females, one of whom was an older black woman, and the other who was a younger white woman. The Doña Ana County Sheriffs Office is hoping that the public can help them find Dorothy’s killer now that the victim herself has been identified.
Crime Immemorial 