Janet Shirar, 29, was found murdered in her Kokomo, Indiana apartment over Memorial Day weekend, May 1980. Family grew concerned when she missed a planned cookout and a nephew’s birthday; on the evening of Sunday, May 25 her mother, stepfather and a friend went to check on her. They found her car with the driver’s door ajar and entered the unlocked apartment after seeing her purse on the living room floor.

Her body was discovered on the bathroom floor. She had been stabbed and slashed more than a dozen times to the back, torso and thighs; investigators described the wounds as overkill. The fatal wound severed the subclavian vein near the shoulder and caused exsanguination, with death estimated within three minutes. A 4-inch Stellite paring knife from her kitchen, belonging to her grandmother, was recovered at the scene but wiped clean. There was no evidence of sexual assault or robbery.

Authorities questioned a female friend who had been with Janet the night of the attack; she was extensively interviewed for 16 months. Officials later said the case nearly was solved in the early 1980s but stalled for lack of chargeable evidence and became contentious between prosecutors and detectives. No arrests have been made and the case remains unsolved.

If anyone knew Janet, the people she spent time with, or has information about that weekend, please come forward.