Fingerprint from taxi license application leads to arrest in decades-old double homicide

An arrest has been made in a grisly decades-old double homicide after a suspect was identified using a fingerprint from a taxi license application.

Theresa Marcoux, 18, and Mark Harnish, 20, were shot dead in West Springfield, Massachusetts on November 19, 1978.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said on Wednesday that a bloody fingerprint was collected at the scene but no match had ever been made.

Then an unnamed tipster came forward with information connecting Timothy Joley, 71, of Clearwater, Florida - who previously lived in Massachusetts, to the crime .

'Investigators obtained a finger print identification card for Joley from the Springfield Police Department, which was on file with that department because Joley was fingerprinted as an applicant for a taxi cab license in the year 2000,' Gulluni said.

Two law enforcement investigators - each with extensive experience in fingerprint analysis, comparison, evaluation and verification - were enlisted and both matched Joley's print to the one left at the scene.

Marcoux and Harnish were last seen alive on the morning of November 19, 1978 at approximately 12:30, leaving a party hosted by friends.

At approximately 9:30am, police discovered a 1967 green Dodge pickup truck that belonged to Harnish parked in a roadway rest area on Route 5 and Riverdale Street.

An officer saw that the driver's side window of the truck was damaged and noticed blood in and around the vehicle.

Marcoux and Harnish's remains were found over a nearby guardrail and they both had multiple gunshot wounds.

'The forthcoming investigation saw painstaking efforts to document and photograph the scene, with physical and biological evidence collected by investigators. The rest area was thoroughly searched for evidence, yet no firearm was recovered,' Gulluni said.

'Investigators concluded that Theresa and Mark had been shot while in the passenger compartment of the pickup truck and their bodies were moved to the area where their remains were later discovered.'

Ballistics testing concluded that bullets were all fired from the same unknown firearm which was capable of firing 38-caliber ammunition.

After Joley's name was brought up to investigators, they learned he had lived in town at the time and owned a gun.

'Investigators also learned that Joley was a licensed gun owner in November 1978 and that he purchased a Colt handgun approximately one month before the murders,' Gulluni said.

The district attorney said no motive is known at this time and there was no apparent connection between Joley and the victims.

While both of the victims parents have died, their remaining family members attended Gulluni's press conference on Wednesday.

'I admire and respect you for your patience, resolve, and the faith that I know you've maintained over these many years,' he said.