EMMAUS, Pa. – At the East Penn Diner in Emmaus folks are getting their first jolt of the day and digging in to breakfast.
All the while chatting about things like traffic and their golf game.
But every once in a while, it comes up. The murder that broke the borough’s heart.
“I clearly remember her,” said Emmaus resident Denise Tempest. “What a horrible thing to have happen to her.”
The year was 1982.
Ronald Reagan was president, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts topped the pop charts, and E.T. was capturing the hearts and the imagination of moviegoers.
27-year-old Barbara Solt spent her mornings teaching PE at Lincoln Elementary School, and her afternoons at Emmaus High School coaching girls field hockey and basketball.
“She was very friendly. She was, I want to say, a player’s coach,” said Emmaus High School Athlete Lisa Gaumer.
Barbara loved kids and was excited about becoming a God mother to her cousin’s one month old daughter.
Tuesday November 17th, Barbara went shopping for a baptism dress for baby Nicole.
It would be the last time anyone saw her alive.
The next morning, Barbara didn’t show up for work.
Since she only lived two blocks away, Lincoln principal Joseph Pavone went to check on her.
When he got to Barbara’s apartment, he could hear the TV blaring inside.
Barbara was found stabbed, strangled, and sexually assaulted in her bedroom.
“I can only imagine that the death felt like an eternity,” said Eric Dowdle, former Assistant District Attorney with Lehigh County.
A trail of blood led investigators to the murder weapon.
“The blade of the knife was found near her in her bedroom and the handle was found in the kitchen sink. It was broken,” said Emmaus Police Department Det. Sgt. Adam Knoblauch.
There was no forced entry, nothing was missing.
Barbara either let her attacker in, or they were waiting for her when she got home.
The question of who killed Barbara Solt has haunted the borough of Emmaus for 43 years.
But soon there could be some answers in the vase, thanks to the science of justice.
In part two of the series “The Science of Justice,” 69 News reporter Jaccii Farris takes a look at the investigation into Barbara’s murder.