On February 24, 1976, Roger Amiotte, a rancher, was installing a fence when he saw a body at the bottom of a thirty-foot embankment. The land was at the northeast corner of the reservation, a few miles from Wanblee, South Dakota. The body had been revealed after the snow had melted away. The body was badly composed, curled in the fetal position, and still covered by a pair of jeans and a maroon ski jacket. The coroner, W. O Brown, conducted the autopsy. He documented that death had occurred ten days prior, and that she had died from exposure. The body was determined to be a Jane Doe. To identify the body, the hands were cut off and sent to the FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for fingerprinting. A few days later, the body was buried in an unmarked grave in South Dakota as a Jane Doe.
A few hours after the burial, the FBI lab confirmed that the fingerprints from the dismembered hands belonged to Anna Mae Pictou Aquash....But who would want to murder the fiery Native American activist?