On the evening of October 30, 1982, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, 69-year-old Marvin Brandland and his wife Ethel were handing out candy when someone knocked at their door wearing a pillowcase with eyeholes. The intruder demanded money at gunpoint and forced the couple toward their basement safe, a detail the family says was not widely known. Marvin attempted to grab the gun during the struggle and was shot in the throat; he died on the operating table at the hospital. The assailant left the pillowcase behind.

Ethel described the attacker as a young man of about 16 to 20, blondish hair and blue eyes. The family believes an acquaintance who later bragged about the killing was responsible, and police have identified a prime suspect who fits that description, but investigators say there has never been enough evidence to bring charges. The pillowcase was tested for DNA in 2010 but yielded insufficient material for a profile. Does anyone have information about Marvin, Ethel, or the young man their family named?