Similar murders, many years apart, keep happening in this small town.

This book starts in 1952 with the police investigating the dead body of a young girl found on the side of the road. Being small-town 1952, the lead detective instantly decides that she was drunk or a sex worker and sweeps everything under the rug. The next chapter skips to 1972 when another young girl is found dead along the same stretch of road under similar circumstances. The next chapter skips to present day when, you guessed it, another young girl turns up dead in the ditch on the side of that same road. I'm interested to find out what's happening here. There have been at least 3 murders, spanning over 50 years. Is it the same killer? Or something else?