Janet Lee Bowman was 19 and a sophomore at Humboldt State University when she disappeared after returning to the area on September 20, 1975. She was last seen on September 30 at the Eureka Welfare Office and was known to hitchhike. Friends described her as graceful and intelligent; they reported no contact after that day.

On October 6, 1975, an anonymous, postmarked letter led deputies to a location off Highway 299 near the Korbel weigh station, east of Blue Lake. Janet’s partially disrobed body was found in the Demonstration Forest. An autopsy determined she had been strangled and likely raped. Several personal items were missing, including a homemade red floral skirt, straight-leg blue jeans, a blue down jacket, size 5.5 orange suede shoes, and a green Camp Trails backpack. Authorities did not consider the letter writer a suspect.

Janet’s murder was the first of four similar slayings in Humboldt County over the following nine months. The case, number 197509543, remains unsolved and no arrests have been announced. Did anyone in the area at that time see Janet hitchhiking or notice a vehicle matching her description?