It was July 16, 1973, and 21-year-old Concetta Penny Sarah had the day off from her job as

a dental assistant at a practice in downtown New Haven, Connecticut.

She argued with her little sister over who would get the keys to the family's Buick that

day, and won, driving away from the home she shared with her father and sibling late

that summer morning.

Penny made it to the Temple Street parking garage adjacent to Malley's department store

just before 12.45 pm.

She told her father earlier that day that she planned to do some furniture shopping, but

before she ever stepped foot outside of the garage, Penny came face to face with evil

in a senseless attack that claimed her young promising life.

Despite the abundant evidence left at the scene by the perpetrator, and considerable public

speculation concerning one suspect in particular, more than a decade would pass before New Haven

police were able to make an arrest.

But was their case against the man they identified as Penny Sarah's killer built on solid ground?

One critical detail would derail everything, and the investigation started all over again.

When Penny Sarah's murder finally made it to trial 29 years later, the judge would call

it one of the most mysterious murder cases in New Haven's history.

The mystery would reach a conclusion, but not without a figurative roller coaster of

false arrests, cover-up allegations, elaborate reenactments, and eventual advancements in

forensic science to finally put the case of Penny Sarah to rest.

I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is part one of Concetta Penny Sarah's story, On Dark Down East.

Concetta Penny Sarah was born in New Haven, Connecticut on March 2, 1952 to her Italian

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