''Then about 2002, I was struggling for a thesis topic and Garry said, 'Why not Christy?' '' she recalled.

Bacon got permission from the sheriff's department, where officers were open to anything that might help identify the woman. And then she got Christy's remains in an old box.

''I got her a new box, and used a good clean towel, you know, just trying to treat her with respect,'' she said. ''I had this little pillow I kept her head on.''

Slowly, Bacon came to know Christy. She started calling her ''my girl.''

''I guess I started to feel like I could really do something for her, get her back to her family or someone who cared about her,'' she said.

Christy was petite, maybe 5 feet tall, 18 to 21 years old. She weighed maybe 100 pounds. Her remains suggest the possibility of both Caucasian and Asian heritage, and she was most likely right-handed. She smoked and, Bacon speculates, may have used drugs in the last years of her life.

''I don't think she was from around here, based on the way Missoula reacts to somebody going missing,'' she said.

Bacon has long felt Christy might be from the East Coast, a runaway most likely, but that's just a hunch.