Authorities in Warren Co., N.J., are hoping new information will bring new leads so they can finally crack a decades-old murder case.
Sunday marked 30 years since a worker discovered a teenage girl beaten to death at Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown.
When now retired Blairstown Det. Eric Kranz got the call about a body found at the cemetery in July 1982, he was incredulous.
"I thought it was a joke at first," he said. "They said, 'No, this one's above the ground.'"
She's now called "Princess Doe." The clothes and necklace she was wearing were the only visible clues she left behind.
"She was beaten beyond recognition," said Kranz. "Her head was demolished."
For the past three decades, Warren Co. investigators have been trying to identify her.
"Just knowing that she's never had a real name or anything, just kind of a sad," said Val Colbeth, a Palmer Twp., Pa., florist who helped with the victim's funeral.
The case drew national headlines, an "America's Most Wanted" segment, and a slew of possible matches to missing girls. In 2005, a prison inmate even admitted to the killing, claiming "Princess Doe" was a teenaged prostitute from Long Island.
"The problem we've had all along in this case -- we do not have any physical evidence to connect that person or persons, or we do not have the identity of the victim," said Lt. Det. Stephen Speirs, who took over the case in the late 1990s.
Sunday, investigators unveiled a new bust showing exactly what the victim probably looked like. It uses advanced imaging from a CT scan of Princess Doe's skull.
"When I looked at it, it blows me away," said Kranz. "I can't get over it, that I'm actually looking at this person."
Investigators have also ordered new DNA testing on the victim's hair. Elements in Princess Doe's hair could show in what geographic regions she ate or even drank tap water, up to a year before she died.
"It can also possibly trace her travels," said Speirs. "If she went from let's say the Southeast and came up the coast over a period of a year, we might be able to track that travel."
In what could be a major break, detectives have also found DNA on the remains belonging to someone else. All this new DNA testing should be finished within the next two months, according to prosecutors.
Authorities also announced a new tip line for the case: (866) 942-6467.
You can learn more on the Princess Doe website.
Princess Doe's American Most Wanted profile is also listed online.

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