EMMAUS, Pa. – At the East Penn Diner in Emmaus, the morning crowd is pouring in, eager for that first jolt of the day and to tuck into the breakfast special.
The conversations are filled with gripes, grandkids and golf.
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 Regan 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 P.E. at Lincoln Elementary school and her afternoons at Emmaus High School coaching girl’s field hockey and basketball.
“She was very friendly. She was, I want to say, a player’s player,” said Lisa Gaumer, one of Barbara’s former players.
Coaching was Barbara’s dream job, she was always active.
Growing up, she played basketball at Dieruff High School and was a member of the flag corps.
As a young woman, she loved to travel and was excited to become Godmother to her cousin Francis Flavel’s baby girl.
Tuesday, November 17th, Barbara went shopping with her mother for a baptism dress for baby Nicole.
“So everything was in place, like, for her to be my godmother, like I had her middle name,” said Nicole Whelan.
But it was a role Barbara never got to assume.
The next morning, she didn’t show up for work.
Since Barbara only lived two blocks away, Lincoln principal Joseph Pavone went to check on her.
“The principal just tried the door and it had opened, and he went in and walked throughout the apartment,” said Emmaus Police Det. Sgt. Adam Knoblauch.
The TV was blaring inside the apartment.
Pavone found Barbara dead in her bedroom.
“She died in a horrible way, she died in a demeaning way, and I can only imagine that the death felt like an eternity, ” said Eric Dowdle, Former Assistant District Attorney for Lehigh County.
Barbara was stabbed, strangled and sexually assaulted.
Her cousin Francis Flavel says the aftermath still gives him nightmares.
“There was blood everywhere, everywhere, the walls going down the hallway carpet” said Flavel. “It was really a gruesome scene, and I’ll never forget it.”
A trail of blood led investigators to the murder weapon.
“There was actually two pieces to the weapon at that point. 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 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.
As you can imagine, word of Barbara’s brutal murder spread like wildfire through the borough.
“It was a terrible shock, because these things don’t happen in Emmaus,” said Tempest.
“It was a scary time for us all, and because we all liked her, you know, it was, it was a hard time for us,” said Gaumer.
In the days following the murder, frightened residents gathered to share their grief.
“I had never, ever been to a viewing like that in my life,” said Flavel.
People from across the Lehigh Valley came to Barbara’s funeral.
“Lines of people, bus loads,” said Flavel. ” It was just teachers and students, past students and acquaintances that she had made over the years she was, she was a good, good, dedicated teacher and coach.”
While the town mourned, investigators followed every lead.
Initially, the list of potential suspects was long.
An ex-boyfriend, a co-worker, a man accused of committing sex crimes in the area around the same time.
But nothing led to an arrest.
The question of who killed Barbara Solt has hung over Emmaus for more than four decades.
But even so, at the Friday night football game it’s not hard to find people who remember what happened.
“It’s very scary, something like that happens and nothing came of it,” said Dee Erbe.
It’s not for a lack of trying.
“The stack of reports that was done for just a physical evidence in this case were probably that thick,” said Lehigh County Detective Joseph Vasquez.
Barbara’s case may be unsolved, but it was never put to the side.
“The community is still invested in justice for Barbara and it’s something that has been passed down to every generation of detectives in our apartment,” said Knoblauch.
Emmaus Chief Jason Apgar is part of the latest generation.
“I lived here my whole life,” said Apgar. ” I get asked about it all the time.”
Apgar was in the second grade when the murder happened.
Barbara was his PE teacher.
Apgar says over the years, Emmaus Police have worked closely with State Police and Lehigh County investigators to re-evaluate every detail in the case.
Including looking into leads like a possible connection to serial killer Timothy Krajcir.
Krajcir is convicted of killing 9 women from 1977 to 1982.
He grew up in West Mahanoy Township, Schuylkill County, and it was while visiting family in 1979 that he killed 51-year-old Myrtle Rupp in Muhlenberg Township, Berks County, after impersonating a police officer to gain access to her home.
“This individual is probably one of the most dangerous offenders that I have ever witnessed,” said Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams in 2007.
Krajcir was convicted of Rupp’s murder in 2007 when DNA connected him to the crime.
After finding out Krajcir was living in Lehigh County in 1982, investigators gave him a polygraph about Barbara’s murder it registered a flat line.
“If you don’t have a conscience, you could tell me an incorrect answer and it wouldn’t show anything up because you just don’t care,” said Vasquez.
Krajcir denies being involved in Barbara’s murder.
And over the years, investigative efforts to extract DNA that would lead to a suspect have been fruitless.
“We are working with the Cold Case Foundation they have been wonderful and they have been helpful,” said Dowdle.
The Cold Case Foundation is a non profit organization made up of experienced investigators who use their expertise to assist in solving cold cases.
Their mission is to be the ultimate resource for homicides, missing persons, unidentified remains and sexual assault cases with serial characteristics.
Investigators are hopeful advances in DNA technology will finally help them get the answer they need.
Advances like touch DNA, meaning DNA that can be extracted from hard surfaces that were touched or breathed on.
Or the M-Vac system, where a vacuum is used to extract DNA from fabrics.
“We have a lot of circumstantial evidence, but the DNA is what we’re looking for,” said Dowdle.
Dowdle says several items from Barbara’s case are now being re-evaluated using these methods.
“We’re hoping that the DNA will come back and we’re hopeful that just as it did in the Rose Hnath case the DNA will point us in a direction,” said Dowdle.
In the 1989 cold case murder of Rose Hnath, touch DNA was used to create a DNA profile.
That profile was given to Forensic Geneologist Jennifer Moore in Virginia, who entered it into a public DNA database.
After finding a distant relative, she built a family tree that led investigators to 65-year-old Michael Briesch.
At trial, Breisch’s attorney’s called the case against him flimsy, saying while his DNA was found on the murder weapon found outside the Hnath home, it was not found inside the home where the murder was committed.
That Touch DNA is far from an exact science when determining the perpetrator of a crime.
The jury agreed, acquitting Briesch of all charges.
‘Not guilty’: Jury acquits man accused in Lehigh Valley cold case murder, family continues to wait for closure
And while investigators may never know who killed Rose Hnath, people who know Barbara Solt still have hope, because every case is different.
For now, it’s a painful waiting game that may never produce results.
Lisa Gaumer was one of Barbara’s players. Today, she’s a member of the Emmaus High School’s field hockey coaching staff.
Gaumer says she thinks about Barbara often and what might have been.
She could have a legacy,” said Gaumer. “If she wasn’t murdered, we don’t know, we will never know, you know, and I think that’s sad.”
Barbara’s family also wonders.
For Nicole Whalen, it’s especially hard.
“I definitely feel robbed of it, because she had such an impact, she was such a good person and a positive person,” said Whalen. “I think that it would have been really cool to have a Godmother like that.”
The family has had their hopes up before.
“And to say it’s an unsolved case for 43 years, I just I have a hard time. I have a hard time holding on to that,” said Flavel.
They long for the day when they can let go of it.
“I would like to know, why,” said Flavel.
The day when the Science of Justice finally solves the mystery of who killed Barbara, not just for them, but for the entire borough.
“It would be a closure for a lot of people,” said Whalen.
Anyone with information about the murder of Barbara Solt is asked to call the Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Tip Line at 1-800-472-8477.