Murder Clock Ticking
Teresa
Murder clock ticking
Investigators haven't given up on 32-year-old rape, slaying
By Sarah Huntley, News Staff Writer
LITTLETON -- To those who knew her, sunny, vibrant Marilee Burt will be
forever 15.
But to those who are hunting her killer, time is running out.
Today, thirty-two years to the day after one of Arapahoe County's most
notorious homicides, investigators are making one last push to crack the
heartbreaking mystery.
"Witnesses and suspects are getting older. They're dying," said Investigator
Bruce Isaacson. "This is probably our last chance."
Marilee, granddaughter of Nate Burt, who owned Burt Chevrolet, disappeared
Feb. 26, 1970, while walking home from a friend's house after attending a
basketball game at Goddard Middle School. Her blond hair in pigtails and
still dressed in her cheerleading uniform, the teen was last seen stopping
to talk to the driver of a pickup truck.
Her body, nude and battered, was found the next day under a bridge on Deer
Creek Canyon Road, several miles southwest of her home.
The rope that was used to strangle her was still wrapped around her neck.
She'd been hit in the head, probably with enough force to be knocked
unconscious. Technicians found tissue scrapings under the teen's
fingernails, indicating she fought back, and slivers of wood in her fingers.
Metal shavings, like those found on the floor of a machine shop, were
tangled in her hair.
Marilee had been raped -- an indignity that investigators now say could give
them their best evidence.
For the past three years, authorities have been quietly conducting DNA
testing. The tests are the results of slides, collected and preserved during
Marilee's autopsy. Tom Henry of the Denver Medical Examiner's Office found
the slides, still in the original sealed envelope, while making one last
sweep through the office's files.
The discovery breathed new life into a stalled investigation.
"Now we know if we have DNA, it's huge. It is great evidence, one way or
another, to include or to exclude," Isaacson said. "We don't have to depend
on a confession. We can let science do some speaking."
So far, the evidence has helped narrow the options. The results of
laboratory tests have ruled out 24 possible suspects as sources of the DNA,
investigators said. The people tested included Marilee's two brothers, who
were not considered likely suspects by police, and a child molester who knew
Marilee and moved to the top of the suspect list after he told authorities
he "probably had feelings of wanting to have sex with her."
The convicted pedophile was identified years ago as the primary suspect in
the slaying. His DNA has been tested twice and it doesn't match.
Authorities, racing the clock, have also tested the DNA of two dead men. In
one case, the man's DNA was on file from an autopsy. In the other case,
Isaacson and Investigator Rick Fahlstedt persuaded the suspect's parents to
give samples. Both men were cleared.
The majority of the suspects were "more than willing" to be tested, Isaacson
said. "It was like, 'Yeah, clear me so you can spend your time finding the
person who did this.' "
Marilee's friends and family hope the DNA will lead investigators to her
killer, but said the process of excluding suspects has also brought peace.
"So many of the people on the suspect list were familiar," said Jandee
Clayton Camozzi, who was a friend of Marilee's.
"Thank God they have dismissed her brothers, because that had been very
hard. Knowing the family, that was never in the realm of possibility, but I
remember there was talk (in the community). That's a tremendous relief,
after all these years."
Camozzi still remembers the sense of shock that followed Marilee's slaying.
"We had this very close-knit community. Littleton was a small town then. It
really did rock our security," she said.
Investigators believe Marilee was abducted by someone she knew. The teen had
called her mother for a ride before leaving her friend's home, but Sherry
Burt mistakenly thought her daughter was still at the school. She set out
for the school, as Marilee started walking.
Passing motorists would later tell authorities they saw a truck, described
as 1968-1970 light-colored two-tone pickup, pull alongside the teen at about
6:45 p.m. on Middlefield Road. A short while later, the truck sped away,
nearly running a stop sign, Fahlstedt said.
Marilee was gone.
Also gone were Marilee's school books and her junior high cheerleading
uniform: a green pullover sweater with a large gold "G" on the front and the
numerals "70" on the sleeve, and her first name in script on the back; a
green skirt with gold pleats; a white blouse; a dark nylon windbreaker; and
white shoes.
Searchers with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Posse combed the canyon but
found no trace of the missing items. The suspicious truck has never been
identified.
Marilee's slaying occurred about two years after the disappearance and
killing of another girl. Connie Paris, 18, was found March 31, 1968, among
weeds and rubbish in a ditch in southwest Denver. She, too, had been
disrobed, strangled and sexually assaulted.
At the time, authorities said it was possible the cases were connected. But
the recent DNA tests suggest that is unlikely. Samples from the two scenes
do not match, investigators said.
Marilee's mother, Sherry Burt, declined to comment, but asked a friend,
Julie Towers, to convey a simple message: "Just tell them I'll never give
up."
"This just devastated Marilee's family," Towers said. "I remember standing
next to Sherry when the detectives came (to say Marilee's body had been
found). I just held her. Her whole body weight fell on me."
Since the slaying, Sherry Burt has devoted her time to working with victims'
programs, particularly Courthouse Inc., which provides court-ordered housing
for young girls, many of whom are the victims of sexual assault. One of the
homes is named after Marilee.
Towers, who took ballet and toe classes with Marilee, remembers the teen as
outgoing and feisty. "She was just a bubble, the most joyous person you
could ever meet," she said.
The passage of time doesn't make the loss easier. All it takes is a single
memory or a song -- Bridge over Troubled Waters, one of Marilee's
favorites -- to bring it back.
"I can go back there immediately. It stole our innocence," Towers said. "I
think about Marilee a lot. When I got married, I thought about her. When I
had children, I thought about her. I'm a grandmother now, and I think, oh my
gosh, how old would she be?
"I think you are always wondering," Towers said. "We want to know what
happened."
These are the memories that move Isaacson and Fahlstedt, who were assigned
to the case three years ago. The pair estimated they have already
interviewed more than 100 people.
"Here's a young girl, 15, walking home from school after cheerleading. She's
abducted, raped and murdered. She's a true victim," Isaacson said. "It's
been 30 some years now and the people we talk to still say she never said a
bad or mean word to anyone. There's nothing I've ever heard said about
Marilee that was bad."
"We want to solve this case," Fahlstedt said.
The investigators are working their way down a list of about 140 people,
most of whom were referenced in initial reports. Some are potential
suspects; others are witnesses. Many have moved on or married, making the
task of finding them harder.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that more than one person
was involved and are asking anyone with information about the case, "no
matter how trivial," to call (303) 795-4975.
Cheryl Cook Moore, the friend whose home Marilee left the night she was
killed, said she was pleased to hear that authorities haven't given up on
solving the crime.
"That would be so great for Marilee's mom,' said Moore, who now lives out of
state. "It was just such an awful, awful time. I would love for her to be
able to know, even if the person is dead."
Moore sometimes dreams about the day her friend disappeared.
"You are 15 years old. Your girlfriend leaves your house and you never see
her again . . . Everything just kind of changed after that. I'm going to be
47 this year. I think, my God, we were 15," Moore said. "Look at all the
years she didn't get."
Staff writer Kevin Vaughan contributed to this report. Contact Sarah Huntley
at (303) 892-5212 or hunt...@RockyMountainNews.com.
February 26, 2002