Anyone who was alive in Harlan County in 1969 probably remembers the story of a young woman found stabbed to death on Pine Mountain. Nearly 40 years later, it's still not known who she was, where she came from, and who killed her.

After a short walk through a wooded area on a hill overlooking the city of Harlan, you'll find a grave marker that simply says, Unidentified Girl Burial, June 5th, 1969, Colonial Chapel. Newspaper articles at the time say a man picking flowers found the woman's nude, decomposed body about 50 feet off the Little Shepherd Trail. She'd been stabbed in the chest.

"People in Harlan were scared to death to let their girls go out on dates," said Joe Mahan, former funeral home owner.

Mahan, who is mainly confined to a bed at the Harlan Nursing Home, believes he's one of only two people still alive that saw the murder scene. Mahan was a funeral home owner and retrieved the young woman's body. He says he still thinks about her all the time.

"It still stays with me. I've prayed a lot over this hoping that she can be identified and maybe the killer be identified," Mahan said.

Mahan paid for the woman's casket himself and members of the Harlan County Rescue Squad served as pallbearers when she was buried.

"I just couldn't put that little girl in a casket knowing what she may have gone through, maybe on that mountainside some night, screaming for help," Mahan said.

"It doesn't appear that anyone ever looked for her. It doesn't appear to me that anyone's looking for her now," said author Darla Jackson.

Jackson wrote about the unidentified girl in a book called Harlan County Haunts. Jackson's uncle lived near the cemetery where she's buried for a short time several years ago and believes she tried to communicate with him from beyond the grave.

"He actually saw her and she was simply staring out a window," she said.

Incredibly, Jackson says her uncle believes the woman was guiding him to the answers nobody else could find. She told him her name was Caroline, that she was from Ohio, and even mentioned the name of her killer. Of course, none of this has been proven, although an order ticket from a Cincinnati, Ohio restaurant was found near the body.

"She would like to go home. She's not familiar with this area, she feels like she doesn't belong here, she doesn't like to be referred to as the unidentified girl," Jackson said.

Even though decades have passed, those who remember the murder, and who've studied it, would still like to know who "Caroline" was.

"Once you hear this tragic story, you can't help but be touched by it," Jackson said.

"Everyone would like closure involving this little girl," Mahan said.

"Caroline" was believed to be white, about five foot three, with a medium build and reddish-blonde hair. Joe Mahan says she had a broken collar bone at one point during her life that had healed.

To contact Author Darla Jackson's, you can send an e-mail to rdjackson@kih.net.