I couldn't find a thread on this...sorry if there is one. This story originally aired on CBS in Jan. but they have done a reconstruction of this girl. I know we have some great sleuthers on here.
The Girl Next Door
Will Forensic Reconstruction Help ID Nameless Murder Victim?
A teenager is found murdered in a relatively peaceful area of northern California, her body dumped behind a restaurant. A search for the victim's identity comes up empty but police won't give up in their quest to give the girl her name back.
Will a forensic reconstruction of the victim's face lead investigators to a much-needed breakthrough?
It haunts me a lot. I think it haunts everybody that has worked on this case, says Sgt. Scott Dudek of the Alameda County Sheriff's office.
Like any good homicide detective, Sgt. Dudek can sometimes get a little obsessed with his cases. But theres one case that troubles him more than any other.
A 22-year veteran of the Alameda County Sheriffs department in northern California, Dudek had solved his share of gruesome crimes. But murders are rare in the suburban community of Castro Valley.
Its a beautiful community. Its about 75,000 people, middle- to upper middle-class mostly. Not a lot of crime; not a lot of violent crime especially, Sgt. Dudek explains.
So what he saw the night of May 1, 2003, was especially shocking, even to a seasoned detective: the body of a young girl, murdered, stuffed into a trash bag, and discarded behind a restaurant.
The body was left behind a tree by a cyclone fence. "She had been dead for about 10 days so it was fairly well decomposed," says Dudek.