Colorado authorities thought Katharine Farrand Dyer had been murdered in 1954.

Now that the 84-year-old woman has been found alive in Australia — where she's apparently been living for 46 years — the case is once again very cold.

As The Denver Post writes, Boulder County Sheriff's Division Chief Phil West says this is a "good news, bad news" development:

"While it's a relief to know that Katharine is alive, it's also discouraging in that we are back to square one with essentially no viable candidates for who 'Jane Doe' might be," said West.

The discovery happened when two women caring for Dyer, now known as Barbara Jones, found some divorce papers in her possessions. Those papers were for a woman named Dyer. They did some Internet research and found links to stories about the murder. That led them to the Boulder sheriff's office.

The reason authorities thought Dyer had been the victim? According to the Post:

In 1954, Dyer was living at a boarding house at 1118 Washington St. in Denver. She disappeared from the boarding house on March 26, 1954. "Jane Doe" was found in Boulder Canyon just a few days later on April 8.

And as Australia's Herald Sun writes, "Dyer had lived near a man known as 'The Lonely Hearts Killer' — Harvey Glatman — who was later convicted and executed for several murders."

Stories about mistaken — or forgotten — identities seem to be in the news this week. Yesterday, we posted about the man in Seattle who had no idea who he is. Today, the Seattle Times follows up its reporting with much more about the "John Doe" who turned out to be world traveler Edward Lighthart.