On May 28, 1973, a young Black woman was found shot to death in a field, near a farmhouse located in a then-very-rural area of Loudoun County, Virginia.
That young woman has been unidentified for half a century. But decades later, a new and extraordinary effort to identify her and bring her killer to justice is underway.
Two weeks ago, 1973 came back vividly to a team participating in the long process of exhuming the woman's remains from an unmarked grave.
It took place in the cemetery of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Purcellville -- and from footage Chopper4 captured in the air, the open grave can still be seen.
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Among those present that day two weeks ago was Pastor Michelle Thomas. She founded the African American Historic Preservation Group known as Loudoun Freedom Center, and is the Loudoun Branch President of the NAACP.
Thomas is contributing her training, including work with genealogical records, to determine the identity of the young woman.
Known only as "Jane Doe," she was found shot to death in a home near the intersection of Foundry Road and Taylor Road in Purcellville.
At the time, the discovery, made by two workers checking the farm property, was the subject of a small article in the Loudoun Times Mirror.
"Think about where we were 50 years ago," said Thomas "We were fresh out of the integration of public schools. Douglass High School and all the segregated high schools had just been integrated. She may have been in her 20s, 19 or 20 years old. That means if she was here as a teenager, people would know her."
But so far, no one has made themselves known.
"I talked to people from this community, no one knew this girl, or remembers this girl being found."
From the cemetery, the victim's body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
"If we get DNA, we might be able to find her family," said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman about the extraordinary law enforcement effort. "They might be able to tell us when they last saw her, the people she knew."
Back in 1973, few details were released about the murder victim. She was Black, in her early 20s. She was wearing an orange blouse, orange knit pants, and a jacket in an orange, blue and white plaid pattern. She was also wearing a ring with a turquoise color square stone.
Thomas says when it comes time to re-inter the young woman's remains, she would like to conduct the service.
According to the Sheriff, the victim will be re-interred in a new casket, with a headstone that will, hopefully, carry her name.
