52 years after Los Angeles teenage girl was killed in Colorado, investigators continue to seek answers
By Dillon Thomas
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COLORADO (KCNC) — Wednesday marked 52 years since the body of a 15-year-old girl was found in rural Northern Colorado, and detectives are still trying to identify her killer. In November of 1973, hunters along the St. Vrain River in Platteville found the body of the teenager. However, it wasn’t until 2023 that the girl, known as “Jane Doe 1973,” was identified.
“We exhumed her to get DNA from her,” said Byron Kastilahn, a cold case detective for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. “With new technology of genetic genealogy, we were able to identify some of these Doe cases including Jane Doe.”
The teenage girl, who is Weld County’s longest cold case victim, was identified as Roxanne Leadbeater of Los Angeles.
Kastilahn was able to identify her by linking DNA to Leadbeater’s cousins. He said he called them and asked if anyone from their family had ever gone missing, and that is when they said their cousin did in the 1970s.
The cousins said Leadbeater was being raised in the Redondo Beach area of the California city before she vanished.
“I contacted that police department, and all the suburbs around there including the Los Angeles Police Department,” Kastilahn said.
“Pretty much look at a map, (I called) anybody who had a police department. There is no record of her being reported as missing or a runaway.”
Kastilahn attempted to locate Leadbeater’s immediate family, but that is when he ran into another issue.
“Her father died in 1985, her brother died in 1984 and her mother had just died in 2023,” Kastilahn said.
The WCSO was able to obtain two yearbook photos from schools around Los Angeles that Leadbeater attended. Those photos suggested, based off of school year, that she was alive for at least the start of the 1972-1973 school year.
Leadbeater was able to find a 50-year class reunion and asked attendees for any information they may have had on Leadbeater’s disappearance.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get anything. A lot of people did remember her from high school. But, nothing specific,” Kastilahn said.
The sheriff’s office invited CBS News Colorado’s cameras inside their cold case office, which is filled with boxes for each case currently still open. Leadbeater’s case is not in a box but rather in a folder. That is due to there being such limited information and leads.
Investigators do not know what her cause of death was as there were no cuts or breaks to any of her bones when she was discovered in the 1970s. However, they do believe there was foul play involved as her body was found along a remote river in a rural farming community.
Kastilahn said the WCSO hopes to start getting any leads that may help them better understand why a teenager from Los Angeles, who was never reported missing, wound up deceased in a very remote area of Northern Colorado.
“If she did run away, there is no reason for her to be in Colorado,” Kastilahn said.
Anyone with information on Leadbeater’s life and final moments who thinks they might be able to help with solving the case is asked to contact the Weld County Sheriff’s Office.
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