10 MAY 22-28, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | going to use your exact birthdate,” she says. “By the time that she was an adult and out being a waitress, a few years difference on her age wouldn’t have made any difference.” As for the 1993 clemency request, LeRoy’s son said he believed Jarman was still alive be- cause she told LeRoy that she would arrange for someone to notify him when she died. But Jarman could have failed to make the arrange- ment, or LeRoy could have kept the news from his son. The grandson later said he received a letter claiming to be from Jarman — though it may have been a hoax, as it was sent after his widely-publicized clemency request and began with the phrase, “This is your notorious grandmother, ‘the Blond Tigress.’” After Millman’s death in 1980, no one fi led for her death benefi ts and the Denver Probate Court was unable to identify any heir. The court used $25 from her estate to pay a pastor for funeral expenses. If Millman really is Jarman, she would have been 79 at the time of death. Did You Know the Blonde Tigress? Millman’s grave in Fairmount Cemetery is easy to miss. The small marker lies fl ush against the lawn, partially obscured by leaves and overgrown grass. The only decoration is a bouquet of lilies and chrysanthemums left by Pettem. She’s made the two-hour drive to the grave around eight times to pay her respects; each time, there have been no signs of any other visitors. “I really think this woman would have been forgotten,” Pettem says. “But I am very intrigued with pulling forgotten women out of the past.” Pettem discovered the Blonde Tigress while browsing an online list of missing fugitives never caught by police. She had become fascinated by missing persons cases after writing Someone’s Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe. Pettem’s investigative work for that book resulted in the exhuma- tion and eventual identifi cation of a woman found murdered near Boulder Creek in 1954. Pettem was struck by Jarman’s reputation as “the most dangerous woman alive,” but as she looked further, she was even more struck by the lack of merit for that title. Jarman was the lookout for the trio of robbers, but the me- dia dubbed her the leader. Her lover shot the storekeeper, but Jarman was called a murderer. “I was trying to make sense of it all,” Pettem says. “I was trying to humanize Eleanor.” She’s tried contacting Millman’s former employers, neighbors and even the pastor at her funeral to prove whether she really was Jarman, but she’s come up empty-handed each time. It has been 45 years since Millman’s death, and many of the people who might have been connected to her have since passed away. Pettem has considered pursuing DNA test- ing to confi rm Millman’s identity, but because her death was not a crime like the Boulder murder, she’d need permission from Millman’s next-of-kin to exhume her remains. Without defi nitive proof that Millman is Jarman, there is no known family to give approval. “I’ve exhausted the known,” Pettem ex- plains. “If I’m wrong about Marie being Eleanor, I’m hoping that the book will lead to her true identity.” Last summer, DeOliveira and Camara traveled from California to Colorado to visit Millman’s grave with Pettem, as well as to see the various places Millman worked and lived in Denver; downtown apartments along Stout, Welton, Vine, Pearl and Pennsylvania streets, many of which were demolished and replaced long ago. For the last ten years of her life, Millman lived in an apartment at 330 East 16th Avenue. The women say the experience made them feel closer to a relative they never got to meet. “To be there in the diner, to see where her apartment used to be, to go to the cemetery, it made it feel that much more authentic,” Camara says. “I am so grateful for that experi- ence. It felt like this is who she was. ...I would be surprised if it turns out to not be her.” DeOliveira and Camara say they are sat- isfi ed with what they’ve learned about Jar- man, though they still hope someone who knew Millman may one day reach out with information to “seal the mystery” for good. Perhaps a long-time regular at Pete’s Kitchen will recognize their waitress when they read Jarman’s story in Westword, the same way DeOliveira’s son discovered his great-grandmother in another newspaper all those years ago. Email the author at hannah.metzger@westword. com. Blonde Tigress continued from page 8 SILVIA PETTEM
