Page 21 - WAD BEYOND GLOBAL June 2020

FEATURE

Cold Case Mysteries

Colorado Cold Cases: JeffCo Sheriff’s Department
Identifies a Suspect in Almost 60-Year-Old Murder

An 80-year-old man is suspected of a Colorado teenager’s murder at a
Girl Scout camp over a half a century ago.

Fifty-seven years ago, Colorado was rocked by the sexual In 2007, as DNA testing technologies grew, a John Doe DNA
assault and murder of a 16-year-old girl at a Girl Scout camp profile was created from preserved evidence taken at the
near Deckers, Colorado. crime scene. The profile was entered into the Combined DNA
Index System (CODIS), then in 2019, that profile was updated
Margaret “Peggy” Beck was a student at North High School and and submitted for investigative genetic genealogy testing. This
worked as a girl scout counselor-in-training at the camp, located testing revealed leads that led investigators to a suspect after
at the Flying G Ranch. On August 18, 1963, after not showing up matching the DNA profile to information in consumer genealogy
for breakfast, her body was found zipped inside her sleeping databases, which eventually gave investigators connections to
bag by campmates who had gone to look for her. Beck had slept relatives of the suspect.
alone in her tent the night prior, as her bunkmate had been sick
and slept in the infirmary. She had been raped and strangled The case is now considered to be the oldest unsolved case in
to death, and her attacker was never found, though over 100 the world to be solved using investigative genetic genealogy.
people were interviewed and a few suspects investigated but The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office partnered with United
then cleared. Data Connect, a genealogy testing company founded by Mitch
Morrissey, a former Denver DA. They searched two databases,
In a press conference on Thursday, Jefferson County Sheriff FamilyTreeDNA and GED Match, to match Taylor’s profile to
Jeff Shrader announced that James Raymond Taylor, born that of his relatives.
December 22, 1939, and now around 80-81 years old, has been
named as the suspect in this long-unsolved crime. Anyone who has information about Taylor is asked to contact
the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 303-271-5612 or
It is not known if he is still alive, or where he might be if he is Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867), please
alive. Taylor was in his twenties at the time of Beck’s murder reference case 63-10335.
and living in Colorado back then. He even had a wedding
and a child here in about 1961. He was last seen in Las Beck’s remaining living relatives gave this statement shared
Vegas, Nevada, in 1976 and has a criminal record there that by Sheriff Schrader at the press conference:
dates back to the early 1970s. No family members have had “Peggy was a beautiful young girl who loved life. She was loving
contact with Taylor since the late 1970s, though they did meet and protective of her family and we will cherish our memories
with investigators and were very cooperative with helping of her forever.”
solve the case.
Beck was known to be a happy girl, excited for her first summer
Detective Elias Alberti said of the suspect: as a counselor at the Girl Scout camp. She was one of four
“We have spent several months searching for James Taylor girls and lived with her family in Edgewater. There were some
with no luck. We have no idea where he’s at… Even though resemblances in her case to that of a similar incident at the
we’re unable to find him and locate him, there is a chance the camp a year prior when a girl awoke to a stranger strangling her
general public out there may know James Taylor, may know his in her tent, as well as some similarities to the murder of two
whereabouts,” Girls Scouts in a camp in Oklahoma a few years later, leading to
speculation that the cases may be related.
With the announcement of an arrest warrant, the hope is
that new information leading to Taylor or information on his Though it remains a mystery if Taylor will be found and held
current whereabouts will be found. Below is a picture of the accountable for the crime, it is wonderful news that after
suspect from 1961, courtesy of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s almost 60 years the case has been solved. This is one of several
Office. cases solved in recent years with the use of genetic genealogy
research.
The case remained unsolved for over half a century, and despite
setbacks and a lack of evidence, investigators in Colorado and in About the author
Jefferson County never gave up on finding out who perpetrated D. DeGroot. D. is a writer and bookworm who lives in the beauty of the
the heinous murder of the happy girl scout. Rocky Mountains. She finds happiness in the little things: a warm hug,
a belly laugh, a beautiful sunset, and a good book.
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