http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0307abrk-coldcase0307.html
Zach Fowle
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 7, 2008 03:22 PM
Cold case detectives are asking the public for help in identifying a girl who was found dead in the desert almost 16 years ago.
Police have no leads and don't even know who she is. Detectives recently released a sketch of the girl in the hopes that someone would come forward to identify her.
"This girl has gone unidentified for almost 16 years, and that is way too long," said Det. Barry Giesemann at a press conference Friday.
Giesemann, a cold case homicide detective, said the girl was killed and left in an area of the desert near Deer Valley Road near 26th Street. She went undiscovered for weeks before police found her decomposed body on May 28, 1992.
"They basically left her in the desert the same way you would leave a discarded tree limb," Giesemann said.
Giesemann said the girl was about 15-17 years old and had brown hair. She was found wearing black jeans with lace at the bottom of the pant legs, blue socks, and a brightly colored floral print shirt, according to the Maricopa County Unidentified Persons Bureau.
The girl also had interesting dental features: she still had some of her baby teeth with no permanent teeth underneath, Giesemann said.
Giesemann said investigators' biggest hope is that the girl's parents may come forward to identify her.
"Most parents would go to the ends of the earth for their child. We are just hoping we can find this girl's parents," Giesemann said.
Simply knowing the girl's identity would be a big break in the case and would allow police to greatly expand their investigation, Giesemann said.
Anyone with information about the girl's identity or the circumstances of her death is asked to call the Phoenix police violent crimes bureau at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.