People Magazine Investigates: How was Reet Jurvetson's body identified after more than four decades?

Reet Jurvetson, who was named Jane Doe 59 for nearly 46 years, was the 19-year-old Canadian woman whose body was found brutally stabbed in the famous Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles in 1969 by a birdwatcher. Her death was also suspected to be the wrongdoing of the notorious Manson family and remains under investigation to date.

Investigators used DNA to make the identification after Jurvetson's sister recognized a photo of the young woman's body that was uploaded online. The news was confirmed in December 2015. While no tangible link has been established between Jurvetson and the Manson family murders, authorities are still investigating the possibility while also pursuing other leads in the ongoing case.

ID's People Magazine Investigates revisited the mysterious case of Reet Jurvetson in an episode in 2019 titled Who Killed Jane Doe 59?. The episode is scheduled to re-air on ID this Friday, November 25, at 6 pm ET.

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The Reet Jurvetson case initially went cold due to lack of leads and evidence

Investigators made a concerted effort to identify Reet Jurvetson's body after it was first discovered in 1969. Upon realizing that the victim was Canadian, they searched missing persons files in both the United States and Canada, but to no avail. The public was given access to a sketch and information that included a physical description of the victim, then known as Jane Doe 59.

Jane Doe 59 had 157 stab wounds to her neck and abdomen area and possessed no identification at the time of the discovery. Moreover, detectives realized that she had been murdered elsewhere, and the killer brought her to the location where her body was eventually discovered in a car, dragged her out of the vehicle, and dumped the body in the ravine, where it got stuck in tree branches.

Investigators tried everything, but Jane Doe 59's identity remained a mystery. The investigation was closed due to the lack of witnesses to her murder and leads to her identity.

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Reet Jurvetson aka Jane Doe 59's case was reopened in 2003 and remains unsolved to date

In 2001, the LAPD established a cold case division, and officers were assigned to investigate unsolved crimes from 1960. This assisted investigators in reopening Jane Doe 59's case in 2003 as they examined the remaining evidence. A detective created a DNA profile of the blood taken from her clothing and shared it online, especially on websites dedicated to unsolved murders and missing persons.

In 2015, Anne Jurvetson, the victim's sister, was told about a photo of Jane Doe 59 online that resembled her sister, Reet Jurvetson, who left Canada to move to Los Angeles in 1969, when she was 19. She wrote to her family about her travels in letters, but the last thing they got was a postcard dated October 31, 1969, sent from the Paramount Hotel, which was demolished in the late 1980s.

Reet's family believed she had started a new life in Los Angeles, and hence she was never reported missing. However, as the years passed without hearing from Reet, they grew concerned and hired a private detective to investigate, but she was never found. Anne provided a DNA sample after seeing Jane Doe 59's picture, which proved to be a perfect match.

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According to reports, Reet Jurvetson's decades-old case remains open and investigators are still actively investigating and following up on leads while also looking for fresh insights.

People Magazine Investigates's episode on the unsolved murder case of Reet Jurvetson airs on ID this Friday, November 25, at 6 pm ET.