On April 25, 1979, Sarah M. Faulkner, 56, and her husband Carvel were found dead inside their Elkridge home. Detectives determined both deaths were homicides: Carvel had been shot and Sarah’s throat had been slit. There were no signs of forced entry and a sum of money was left in plain view, leading investigators to treat robbery as unlikely as the primary motive.

Initial leads were scarce and the investigation grew cold. A former employee of the couple’s sanitation business, Vernon L. Clark, later emerged as a person of interest after he was linked to a string of violent crimes against elderly women in the area and was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of Kathleen Gouldin. In the late 1990s authorities said they would run DNA tests to re-examine the Faulkner case, but Clark was never charged in relation to Sarah and Carvel Faulkner’s murders.

Anyone who knew the Faulkners or Vernon Clark, or who has information about that night in 1979, is asked to come forward.