Passersby remember a young girl sitting inside a car speaking with a husky blond man.
Arapahoe County SheriffThe next morning, on Aug. 18, 1979, a man driving by said a partially clothed body of a young girl lying in a field near Interstate-70 and Gun Club Road about five miles north of Aurora. Her body was found about a quarter mile south of the highway.
Authorities believe the girl fought with her attacker near the road and was dragged about 30 feet into the field. She had been beaten and strangled. An autopsy report showed that she had puffed up eyes and bruises on her body.
She had a silver ring on the index finger of her right hand and a gold ring on the index finger of her left hand. She was partially undressed. A blue blanket was found near the girl’s body.
A sketch was done of the girl’s face to help identify her, according to a Rocky Mountain News story. She was wearing jeans, a plaid blouse and blue stockings.
Witnesses believed the car seen the night before was either a Chevrolet Nova or Vega.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office received about 200 calls from people with tips about who it might be.
Arapahoe County Sheriff- Composite drawing of suspect
Ultimately, authorities determined that the remains were those of Kimberly Jean Grabin, a 16-year-old girl from Canon City, who had walked away from the Lookout Mountain School in Golden.
The girl was sent to the school in March of 1878 after running away from home. She was reported missing on July 23, after walking away from a work release program at the youth Conservation Corps at Chatfield Recreation Area.
She was supposed to be released from the school the following month.
According to a Canon City Daily Record article, Grabin began running away from home when she was 13. Over the next two years she ran away six times. She had three sisters and a brother.
She would stay away for about five days before returning home. She told counselors that she wanted to live at home but then she would run from school, home andjuvenile centers.
Sheriff’s investigators believe Grabin may have been hitchhiking when she was picked up, the Canon City newspaper had reported.