INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – Today, November 17, 2018, marks 40 years since someone found the restaurant doors to the Burger Chef in Speedway open, with no one inside.
Four young workers had been kidnapped and killed on that day in 1978.
It's a crime that still haunts our community.
Forty years later, police hope science and technology will cause a break in this cold case. For the first time, investigators showed us an image of one of the murder weapons.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Bill Dalton took over as lead investigator on this case in February. Cold cases are his specialty and this one, he says, needs to warm.
"Somebody has carried this secret for 40 years," Dalton said. "It's time."
It's easy to keep a secret, if no one talks about it.
That's why earlier this week Indiana State Police held a news conference marking the 40th year since the killings by restarting the conversation about the Burger Chef murders, about that November night in Speedway when four young people were kidnapped from work and killed.
$500 was missing from the register, the restaurant left empty.
The victims, later discovered off Stones Crossing Road in Johnson County, two shot, one stabbed, another beaten with a chain.
Early on in the investigation back then, investigators shared clay busts that were made of two potential suspects, based on witness descriptions.
The clean-shaven man and the bearded man have never been identified by name. A motive remains unclear, as well.
"Why? I mean why were four kids abducted out of a Burger Chef restaurant, driven to a remote part of Johnson County and murdered?" Dalton said.
Theresa Jefferies was just 12 years old when she lost her big sister, Ruth.
"I got a rude wakeup from by brother, saying, 'Theresa, wake up! Ruth's been kidnapped," Jefferies said. "Then going into the dining room and seeing all the commotion in there and the phone ringing off the hook and the television blaring, the news and the whole world changed."
Four decades later, police have more than 20 binders full of notes, interviews and evidence.
Lots of theories, no arrests.
For the first time Wednesday, state police showed the broken knife blade found at the murder scene.
"That's actually the murder weapon of one of the victims," police said.
The sheath was missing. Investigators hope that gets people talking, triggers a memory into a clue that they can test with new technology.
"This is likely going to be solved through technology and science, but most importantly is human intelligence," said ISP Supt. Doug Carter.
State police investigators plan to re-examine everything from the beginning. It's using facial recognition, machine learning, artificial intelligence and DNA testing to give an old case a fresh look.
They hope to uncover a secret buried for far too long.
"If you're sitting on a secret from 40 years ago, then you're sitting out of fear. That means you are a victim just as much as they were. It's time," Jefferies said.
Police still get tips on the case, including more than a dozen this past year. If you can help, call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
Asked if police plan on conducting genealogy testing, like the DNA match that solved the murder of April Tinsley in Fort Wayne, they say they haven't yet, but plan to explore it.