Jane Doe No. 59, a woman who was found brutally murdered in 1969 in the Hollywood Hills, has been identified as Reet Jurvetson 46 years after her death.
Jurvetson moved to L.A. in the fall of 1969. According to her one surviving sister, Anne, she sent a postcard to her parents not long after, saying she’d found an apartment and was happy. They never heard from her again. Last year, forensic evidence linked her to Jane Doe No. 59.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that Jurvetson, who was 19 years old at the time of her death, is a victim of the Manson Family cult. NBC News reported, however, that there is currently not enough evidence linking Jurvetson’s murder to the Manson Family.
The teen’s body was first discovered by a birdwatcher in November 1969, several months after the Manson Family brutally murdered seven people, including Roman Polanski‘s pregnant actress wife, Sharon Tate. Investigators noted on Wednesday, April 27, that Jurvetson was murdered in a similar fashion to all of the Manson victims. Her body was also found near where the Tate killings took place.
According to investigators, Charles Manson, now 81, was questioned by Los Angeles Police Department detectives Luis Rivera and Veronica Conrado several months ago, but made no mention of Jurvetson.
“Their encounter with Manson did not produce anything fruitful and the investigation remains open and ongoing,” the LAPD said in its statement on Wednesday. Authorities added that they are looking to speak to a “person of interest” possibly named “John” or “Jean,” who Jurvetson may have known.
Jurvetson’s sister is desperate to find her killer. “I have written this statement and am making it available to the public in the hopes that it might prompt someone to provide leads to the police. This, in turn, may help the detectives solve the mystery surrounding this horrible crime,” Anne wrote on her sister’s memorial website. “Reet was a lovely, free-spirited and happy girl. She was very artistic, drew well, and liked to sew her own clothes. She was involved in Girl Guides and sang in a youth choir. She was deeply loved by both family and friends.”
“After all these years, we are faced with hard facts. My little sister was savagely killed,” Anne wrote. “It was not what I wanted to hear. And now I have a lot to come to terms with. I can hardly grasp how she could have been stabbed over 150 times. It is devastating. I try to draw comfort from the coroner’s report that at least she was not raped, nor were there traces of drugs or alcohol in her system.”
The news comes days after the Manson Family’s youngest member, Leslie Van Houten, was recommended for parole by a panel, which the D.A. is fighting. Manson, meanwhile, is serving life in prison.
