This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault.

Listener discretion is advised.

My philosophy on life, you should just be yourself and make the best of everything and smile.

That's what I do all the time.

I met Helene in the 1970s.

She was always smiling, always smiling.

I can still hear Hleen's voice.

I can still feel her presence.

And that's why I made a promise to her parents

that I would not rest until we found out who, why, how,

and get the answers for them. And I made a promise to her because it shattered all of us.

There are 120,000 unsolved murders in America.

Each one is a cold case.

Only 1% are ever solved.

This is one of those rare stories.

Thank you. solved. This is one of those rare stories. It's cold in Douglas County, Colorado on the morning of January 17, 1980. A woman and her children

are driving through Daniels Park, a wide open expanse of land along County Road 67.

Snow still sits on the frosty ground throughout the fields, but something catches her son's eye as he glances out the window.

The woman can't pull over because she has her kids in the car, so she drives on and finds a road worker.

She tells him that she thinks there is a woman's body in the field.

Douglas County Sheriff's officers arrive at the scene and find the body of a young female lying on her back.

It's a disturbing scene, so the deputies call in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation for help.

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