EAST MILLINOCKET (AP) – A renowned pathologist will lend his expertise to efforts to solve the murder of a 16-year-old girl nearly three decades ago in this northern Maine papermaking town, the victim’s mother says.

Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, has agreed to exhume the body of Joyce McLain and perform a second autopsy, Pamela McLain said.

“He said it’s going to be done sometime this month,” McLain said.

She quoted Baden as saying he planned to bring along some high-profile help: Dr. Henry Lee, the retired director of the Connecticut State Forensics Science Laboratory.

“It was more than I could have hoped for,” McLain said, noting that Baden and Lee were two of the forensic experts she had hoped to convince to take another look at the case. “I never dreamed they would both do it.”

Joyce McLain, a sophomore at Schenck High School, was killed around the night of Aug. 8, 1980, and her body was found two days later in a clearing near the school’s soccer fields. Her head and neck had been struck repeatedly with a blunt object.

Several suspects have been investigated, but no arrests have been made and the case remains open.

A grass-roots organization, The Justice For Joyce Committee, has raised more than $18,000 to cover Baden’s expenses, transportation of the remains, re-interment costs and legal fees.

The exhumation will be private, according to Pamela McLain, who plans to be on hand and will invite family and perhaps a few close friends.

“It’s going to be done with dignity and respect for Joyce,” she said. “I have to be her voice now. It’s hard.”

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