EAST MILLINOCKET (AP) – In 1980, the beaten body of a high school sophomore was found a few hundred yards from Schenck High School. Her murder was never solved.

Now, a new effort is under way in Medway and East Millinocket to solve Joyce McLain’s killing. McLain, 16, was last seen jogging at night on Aug. 8, 1980. No one was ever arrested.

Joyce’s mother, Pamela McLain, wants the girl’s body exhumed and sent to an independent medical examiner in New York in hopes of uncovering evidence that might not have been found in the initial investigation. She says noted forensic pathologist Michael Baden – who has testified in the cases of O.J. Simpson, John Belushi and Medgar Evers – has expressed interest in examining her daughter’s remains.

Baden told Joyce McLain’s cousin, Greylen Hale, that he would need $10,000 for expenses and the autopsy report from when McLain’s body was first discovered almost 28 years ago, the Bangor Daily News reported.

“He has to have the autopsy report first, but his interest is a big thing, and the price … is very much raiseable,” Pamela McLain said. “I am surprised that it’s as low as it is. I mean, at least it’s workable to get that money.”

Baden did not immediately return messages from the newspaper seeking comment.

The chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police and host of HBO’s “Autopsy” series, Baden has been a medical examiner for 45 years and performed more than 20,000 autopsies.

Baden is the family’s first choice, but Hale would not rule out the family’s seeking assistance from other forensic experts.

McLain asked the state medical examiner’s office late last year to exhume the body, with hopes that the killer might have left behind DNA traces that would help with the state police investigation, which continues. She also believes there is at least a chance the body has not degraded to the extent experts believe.

The Medway Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 on Monday to donate about $800 in town services to the exhumation of Joyce McLain’s body, which is in a town cemetery.

To help Pamela McLain raise additional funds, the activist group Justice For Joyce is re-forming to hold fundraisers for the exhumation and to discuss other ways to help resolve the case.