On April 15, 1975, 18-year-old Melanie Suzy Cooley, a senior at Nederland High School, was last seen hitchhiking after classes. She was wearing blue jeans, a jean jacket with an eagle embroidered on the back, and tan boots. Friends described her as a free spirit, and hitchhiking was not unusual for her.

Her frozen body was found on May 2, 1975, by a road maintenance worker on Twin Spruce Road in Coal Creek Canyon. She was fully clothed. An autopsy determined she had been strangled and repeatedly bludgeoned in the head with a large rock; her hands were bound in front of her with a length of yellow nylon cord wrapped around her wrists. No arrests have been made and the case remains officially unsolved.

Investigators later examined possible links to Ted Bundy after a credit card receipt placed him buying gas in Golden the day Melanie disappeared; Bundy never admitted to the killing. Vincent Groves was also investigated and cleared. Does anyone have information about Melanie’s last movements on April 15 or about the area around Twin Spruce Road that might help?