On Dec. 10, 2006, Catherine Barbour found out her 19-year-old daughter, Tracy Jones, was never coming home. Tracy, who was working with a traveling crew selling magazine subscriptions, had disappeared weeks earlier from a truck stop near North Little Rock, Ark. Her body was eventually identified as that of a "Jane Doe" found near the side of a road in Memphis, Tenn.

The 13 months that have passed since Barbour received the news have not erased her grief, but they have eased it.

"It's getting better," said Barbour, who moved to Lebanon last summer.

The holidays weren't as bad as she thought they'd be. The exception, she said with a quavering voice, was anytime she heard the song "I'll be Home for Christmas."

A few other things still bother her. When she's driving and notices a ditch running alongside the road, Tracy's memory surfaces.

"I think about her, because that's where she was found," Barbour said.

That Tracy's body was discovered in a ditch is one of the few things Barbour knows about her daughter's death, which was ruled a homicide. More than a year later, no suspects have been named.

"It's still basically the same," Barbour said, adding that the investigation is now considered a cold case. She gets some comfort that a detective is still assigned to it.

"At least they haven't totally given up on it," she said.

A law enforcement agent called Barbour last month and said they were sending Tracy's belongings to her. Among those items is a necklace that was given to Jones by her then-boyfriend and boss, Robert Blair.

Barbour said Blair left the sales industry and moved to Oregon shortly after Tracy's death.

"He loved Tracy and he wanted to be in the area," Barbour said. Blair occasionally keeps in contact with Barbour.

Blair was questioned by authorities more than once, but Barbour can't believe he had anything to do with the murder. During one meeting with police in Memphis, Blair visited the place where Tracy was found and left flowers at the site, Barbour said. He has cooperated fully with authorities. Barbour intends to send him the necklace he gave her daughter, which was found with Tracy's body.

Friends describe Tracy as a bubbly, fun-loving teen who was willing to befriend anyone.

Krista Junger, 17, met Tracy when Junger started attending West Albany High School a few years ago.

"She would be friends with anybody if they were willing," Junger said.

The two kept in touch a little while Tracy was traveling. If something was wrong before her disappearance, Tracy never let on.

"There was never a time where she didn't seem happy," Junger said. But she noted Tracy like to present a cheerful front to the world. "She said she was happy with what she was doing, but that could have meant anything."

According to Barbour, police initially treated Tracy's disappearance as if she had left on her own volition, a charge that people who knew Tracy never believed. That assumption may have contributed to the fact that it took weeks before law enforcement connected the body of the "Jane Doe" in Memphis to the missing persons report of Tracy Jones.

Like Barbour, Junger's first clue that something was wrong came when Tracy became unreachable by cell phone. Another friend had called Tracy and had not heard back, which was highly unusual.

"If you called her, if she missed the call she would call you back," Junger said. But this time, Tracy never did.

Junger found out about Tracy's death from a friend who saw it on the news.

"It was hard. Really hard," she said. "Still is."

Since Tracy's murder, the magazine sales industry has received a fair amount of media scrutiny, including a front-page article in the New York Times that mentioned Tracy. But Barbour said the people who really need to know about the dangers of sales crews are teenagers.

"Those groups are still advertising in the paper," she said with incredulity. Classified ads beckoning "guys/gals" for vague work often lead to a door-to-door sales company. Given the sweet-sounding promises of the ads - adventure, travel, good pay - Barbour can understand why a young person would want to sign up.

When Tracy told Junger about the sales job, Junger wasn't sure what to think. Tracy was excited about it, but Junger was concerned about her friend, who she described as "extremely beautiful," knocking on doors in strange towns.

"It made me feel a little uncomfortable, but it wasn't my job," Junger said. "I didn't exactly have the place to say anything."

Now, Junger agrees with Barbour that the industry is dangerous.

"I don't think anybody should be doing that kind of a job," Junger said. "Especially by themselves."

Barbour would like to get crime scene photos from the Memphis police and take them to high schools.

"I want them to see the pictures and what can really happen," she said. "The kids should know it's not the bed of roses they make it out to be."

Barbour never saw Tracy's body. She identified photos of tattoos, and the FBI took a swab from her to compare the DNA to the Jane Doe. She said she was never asked to provide Tracy's dental records while Tracy was still considered a missing person.

Barbour has her own suspicions about Tracy's death, but that's all they are. Despite the involvement of at least three law enforcement agencies and national media attention, there apparently are no viable leads.

"It's not going to change anything," Barbour said, "but it would be nice to know that whoever did it was found."

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