The Cornfield

It was a quieter time, a quieter city then. In 1977, Greeley’s population was less than 50,000, and the Greeley streets were usually quiet at night. But on this night, Aug. 24 and into the 25th, things changed. About 3 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 25, Mary Pierce, a clerk at the downtown Greeley 7-eleven store, was discovered missing. Her body would be found two days later in a cornfield west of town. For the next three decades numerous investigators would look into the murder of Mary Pierce, the state would destroy some evidence, and police would ask a clairvoyant to look at the case. Finally, 33 years after her death, Mary’s murderer would be convicted.