Since there's no apparent indication she met with foul play or anything at the time she disappeared, there's no reason she couldn't have been alive for five more years.
Exactly!
Too bad that there are few details on her life - was she the kind that was travelling freely/hitchhiking often and away from home for long periods of time?
I'm trying to work out exactly where this lady was found. My mom grew up in the antelope valley in Palmdale, Los Angeles county. I'm guessing that nipton is either in or nearby the Mojave desert. That area has always been slightly boring / desolate, but it wasn't particularly crime-ridden at the time of this jane doe being found. The Mojave desert in summer is unbearable, so I assume she was killed elsewhere and transported to the mineshaft.
since she was shot in the back I feel like she may have been fleeing her attacker.
I'm wondering if these could of started in California desert. They finally got some DNA on this Jane Doe found in Twenty Nine Palms at a mine claim she also has red hair. https://identifyus.org/cases/24677 I was also looking at this case in Las Vegas it's "Very Graphic" is it real or a hoax. http://archive.4plebs.org/x/thread/16576951I think there could be a connection with Susan Rae Perron she went missing walking to a swimming pool on June 13,1971.Gerri Ann Ralston was found in a pond on May 21,1975.The killer might be leaving clues linking one murder to the next with the water and swimsuits.Gerri Ann Ralston was murdered on almost the same date as Jan Doe 778UFCA a year earlier. http://www.lvmpd.com/Sections/Homicide/CasesByYear/19701979/tabid/326/Default.aspx
The thing that puzzles me is the swimsuit. Aside from Whiskey Pete's and Gold Strike casinos, there wasn't a swimming pool within 100 miles of that location back in 1976.
During free time you may relax around the campfire ring, toss horseshoes, use the basketball hoop, or soak in our small pool (season permitting!).
And in the open desert, people generally don't want to wander around in a swimsuit. The ground is rugged and dusty, the plant life is scratchy on the ankles, and there are a lot of insects and rattlesnakes.
Fair enough. Maybe not "slightly obese", but i would say heavier than average. Just looking at the postmortem, she appeared to have a bit of a double chin, but I suppose some of it might be postmortem bloat.