Police in Los Angeles have identified a long-time unknown woman’s body as 19-year-old Reet Jurvetson, according to a People magazine report.
Jurvetson reportedly moved from Montreal to Los Angeles in 1969. Her body was recovered not far from a site of several Manson “family” killings.
Jurvetson was found without identification by a bird watcher on Nov. 16, 1969. She had been stabbed 150 times.
Los Angeles Police detective Luis Rivera told People that the investigation cannot rule out the Manson family’s involvement. The police’s main lead is a man known as “John,” who Reet met prior to flying to Los Angeles to see him during the summer of ‘69.
Rivera told the magazine: “It was personal, it was a maniac or love gone wrong.”
Unidentified for 47 years, she was known as Jane Doe #59 after long-time speculation she was connected to the Manson killings—which took place just a few miles away.
In June 2015, a friend of Reet’s sister, Anne, was browsing online crime websites and saw a post-mortem photograph of Reet. The friend contacted Anne, who then then contacted authorities. Officials matched their DNA and confrmed Jane Doe #59 was Reet.
Anne said Reet was “free-spirited” and “happy,” heading to Los Angeles to meet up with “John,” and says she sent a postcard about finding an apartment, but was never heard from again, according to People. Her family never reported her disappearance to the police, believing “she was just living her life somewhere.”
“It is such a sad, helpless kind of feeling to always question, to never know. After all these years, we are faced with hard facts. My little sister was savagely killed,” Anne told People.
Police are currently working to close the case. LAPD Det. Rivera said, “No one deserves what happened to her, it’s our job to find out who’s responsible and bring them to justice.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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