Possible Manson murder victim identified nearly 50 years later

When the body of "Jane Doe 59" was discovered with 150 stab wounds in the chest in the brush off Mulholland Drive on Nov. 16, 1969, it led to speculation that the unidentified woman had been killed by the Manson family — who just months before had murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others five miles up the road.

Forty-six years later, Jane Doe 59 has been identified as 19-year-old Reet Jurvetson. She was IDed after her sister, Anne Jurvetson, recognized Reet in a photo that had been discovered online by a mutual friend. A DNA test confirmed their relationship.

Reet Jurvetson grew up in Montreal and had dreamed of traveling to California; she vanished shortly after saving up enough money to fly there in 1969. "As months and then years passed, we imagined that she was making a new life for herself," Anne Jurvetson said, adding that it was "devastating" to learn her sister had been murdered.

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Despite the nearness of Jurvetson's body to the Mansons' crime scene, officials are hesitant to draw conclusions but say they won't "rule out" the possibility Jurvetson is another Manson victim. One theory that has circulated since at least the 1970s is that Jane Doe 59 was present during the killing of a Manson follower and she was subsequently killed as to not be able to discuss it. An interview with 81-year-old Charles Manson revealed no new information or clues.

"It's a convenient thing, since [the Mansons] were obviously so capable of any disgusting violent act, to link them with murders that haven't been solved," Manson biographer Jeff Guinn said.

However, experts have long believed the cult was behind more killings than were confirmed.