Who killed Marilee Burt? Feb. 27, 1970 Littleton Colorado

Author: Jacob Rodriguez
Published: 9:03 AM MST February 26, 2019
Updated: 4:42 PM MST February 26, 2019

LITTLETON, Colo. — Almost 50 years ago, 15-year-old Marilee Burt was headed home from junior high school in Littleton. On Feb. 27, 1970, her nude body was found in Deer Creek Canyon. Burt had been brutally murdered.

Metro Denver Crime Stoppers is now asking the question that's been plaguing investigators for almost five decades: Who killed Marilee Burt? They're hoping you might be able to help.

After a basketball game at Goddard Middle High School in Littleton on Feb. 26, 1970, Burt was still in her green cheerleading uniform and walking home. She took a route that included Berry Drive, Bowles Avenue and Middlefield Road.

She never made it home.

According to Crime Stoppers, Burt's older brother was driving home from high school at the time and saw a girl in ponytails walking down Middlefield Road. He didn't realize it was his sister because she didn't usually wear ponytails and never faced him.

Burt and her mother had also gotten mixed up regarding how she was supposed to get home from the game that day, meaning her brother wouldn't be on the lookout for her, Crime

Her brother told investigators he drove by a man who was driving in the opposite direction and, as he looked in his rear-view mirror, he remembered the man talking to the girl, according to Crime Stoppers.

That would be the last time anyone saw Marilee Burt alive.

Crime Stoppers said her family entered into a frantic search for her not long after that and asked for the help of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. Road workers found the teen's body the next day.

Investigators were able to find DNA on her body but haven't found a single match in local or federal databases. The Sheriff's Office continues to look into this case.

If you have any information that may help them, please contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers as soon as possible at 720-913-7867. You can remain anonymous and may be eligible for



It was a tragic mix up.

Goddard Junior High School cheerleader Marilee Burt was just trying to get home following a basketball game in 1970.

It was at a time when there were no cellular phones to text a message to her mom or a close friend.

The 15-year-old girl had walked to her friend’s house and forgot to tell her mother in a phone message that she wasn’t at the school.
Marilee Burt, photo courtesy Colorado Bureau of Investigation

Marilee Burt, photo courtesy Colorado Bureau of Investigation

As her mom drove to the school to pick up her daughter, her daughter decided to walk to her home at 30 Wedge Way in Columbine Valley in her green uniform with a G emblazoned on the front.

It wasn’t that far.

At about 6:50 p.m. on Feb. 26, 1970 Marilee’s 16-year-old brother Raymond Burt was driving along a deserted stretch of road bordered by tall trees on both sides.

He saw a girl in pony tails walking along Middlefield Road.

He didn’t recognize her because Marilee didn’t normally wear pony tails.

He didn’t see her face in the dark.

After driving down the road a while, he looked in his rear-view mirror.

A dark, two-tone pickup truck stopped beside the girl.

His sister never made it home.

Forty-five years later, the high-profile abduction/rape/murder of a member of the Burt automotive family has never been solved.

The next day highway workers found her nude body under a bridge in a shallow creek in Deer Creek Canyon in Jefferson County. It was found where it was dropped, 6 miles southwest of her home where she lived with her mother.