Robert Charles Gus Gossert was 33 when his body was found in a Chevrolet Vega on August 10, 1976, parked by a cattle gate on the then-remote Watt Road in West Knox County, Knoxville. He had been shot twice in the right side of the head with a .38 caliber pistol and investigators estimated he’d been dead at least a day. The car’s windows were down and there were no signs of a struggle; the scene suggested he may have been taken by surprise and that the shooter had been sitting in the passenger seat.

Gossert, originally from Pennsylvania, had worked as a radio DJ — including a period in New York City — and was on staff part-time at WOKI in Oak Ridge. He had a criminal history involving drug dealing and served time on a 1973 federal drug conviction before returning to Knoxville.

The case became one of Knox County’s oldest unsolved homicides. A suspect identified early on was later ruled out, and no one has ever been charged. The Knox County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit has reopened the investigation and re-examined evidence, but the shooter’s identity remains unknown. Does anyone with memories of West Knox County radio, the Watt Road area in 1976, or contacts from that era have information that could help?