What Happened to Donna Lemon? In the summer of 1973, Donna Irene Lemon, a 20-year-old Caucasian female, was embracing a life full of promise in Montana. She had recently moved into her own apartment and was planning to take more classes to become a Registered Nurse. On the days leading up to her disappearance, she spent time with a friend, Sherry Pierce, attending a rodeo on July 3rd and 4th. The two had made plans to go horseback riding on the afternoon of July 5th, but Donna never arrived.
Her failure to show up was the first sign that something was terribly wrong.
Concern grew when Sherry could not locate her friend. After searching fruitlessly, she contacted Donna's parents, and together they spent hours driving around, looking for any trace of Donna or her car into the late hours of the night. Their search yielded nothing. The mystery of her whereabouts lingered for four anxious days until the morning of July 9, 1973. A man walking along the Snake River in Idaho Falls, Idaho, discovered a woman's body lying face down in the grass. A Montana driver's license found at the scene, and later dental records, confirmed the devastating news: it was Donna Lemon. She had been brutally killed, having sustained multiple stab wounds and a fatal slash to her throat.
Investigators found Donna's green Mustang abandoned about a mile from where her body was discovered. The inside of the car offered grim clues; dried blood was present on the driver's side door and steering wheel, and the contents were strewn about. Authorities were able to lift fingerprints and a palm print from the vehicle, but these prints were never identified. The nature of the killing led investigators to believe that the perpetrator was likely someone Donna knew, as it seemed improbable that she would have stopped to give a ride to a stranger. Detectives theorized that the killer or killers were likely in the car with her when she reached Idaho Falls.
Over the decades, the investigation into Donna Lemon's murder has remained active, but no one has ever been charged. Several potential suspects were considered and ultimately dismissed. The notorious serial killer David Meirhofer, who was active in the Bozeman area, was briefly considered before being ruled out. Investigators also questioned transient workers from nearby resorts and delved into Donna's personal life, including a man she had been casually seeing at the time. Despite identifying a male DNA profile from evidence, no match has ever been found. The case grew cold, leaving Donna's family and friends without answers and her killer's identity a mystery that has endured for more than fifty years.
