A young girl's remains are found after she was last seen at a wedding reception In the winter of 1976, fifteen-year-old Pamela Jean Bluemel, a Caucasian female, vanished into the cold Colorado night. On the evening of December 11th, she was a guest at a joyous occasion, a dual wedding reception held at the VFW Hall on Balsam Street in Lakewood. Eyewitnesses last saw her at the celebration, but what transpired after she left the VFW Hall remains a mystery. When Pamela failed to return home, her parents grew worried and reported her missing to the Lakewood Police Department.
Initially, it was believed that she might have run away from home.
For eight long months, there was no word on Pamela’s whereabouts. The hope for her safe return dwindled with each passing day. Then, on August 18, 1977, a grim discovery was made less than a mile from where she was last seen. The remains of a young woman were found underneath a trailer behind the Top Notch Motel in Lakewood. The body was badly decomposed, making immediate identification impossible. Investigators had to sift through numerous missing person reports, focusing on young women who had disappeared in the area.
After a meticulous two-week process involving the comparison of dental records and fingerprints, the Jefferson County Coroner's Office confirmed the remains belonged to Pamela Jean Bluemel. She would have turned sixteen that July. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, the exact cause of her death could not be determined. Coroners estimated that she had been deceased for three to six months before her body was found. Despite the lack of a determined cause of death, her case was classified as a homicide. To this day, the circumstances surrounding Pamela Bluemel’s death remain unsolved. No suspects have ever been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made in connection with her murder. Her case remains an active cold case with the Lakewood Police Department.
