This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault.

Listener discretion is advised.

I don't remember actually being sat down and being told, hey, your parents are dead,

but I'm a living witness to what happened.

I always thought that he would come back and try to kill me and finish the job.

Just having that hanging over your shoulder puts a great deal of stress on you and anxiety.

He took my sanity.

He took that me, that person inside that I was supposed to be from me.

I spent a long time, a long part of my life, being a victim.

And I chose from then on that I would never be a victim again.

There are 120,000 unsolved murders in America.

Each one is a cold case. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories. This is one of those rare stories. We're going to be. It's January 16, 1984, a frigid Monday morning in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver.

Connie Large Bennett receives a disturbing phone call from her brother about her adult son, Bruce,

and his wife, Deborah.

Bruce and Deborah work for Bruce's uncle as the regional distributors of Bassett furniture, but they had not shown up for work that morning and calls to their house

have gone unanswered.

There had been a gathering at Bruce and Deborah's house the night before for their eldest

daughter, Melissa's eighth birthday.

Deborah's brother, Larry Larry recalls the occasion.

It was a celebration of Melissa's birthday. She was turning eight. I remember the kids laughing and

playing and, you know, it was festive. Debbie made it special. When Bruce's mother learns that no one

can reach the family the following morning,

...