Bloody print leads to ID of Florida suspect in 1978 killing of young couple, officials say

Forty-six years after an 18-year-old and 20-year-old were shot and dragged from a truck in Massachusetts, a man has been arrested in Florida in connection with their killings, authorities said.

Investigators cracked the cold case with a helpful tip and a bloody fingerprint that matched a print on a taxi cab license application, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in a Nov. 13 news conference.

Timothy Scott Joley, 71, was arrested on two counts of murder in Clearwater and awaits extradition to Massachusetts, according to a news release from the DA’s office.

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, 1978, 18-year-old Theresa Marcoux and 20-year-old Mark Harnish said goodbye to friends at a party and drove off in Harnish’s pickup truck, according to prosecutors.

Later that morning, an officer pulled over after seeing a truck parked in a rest stop off Route 5 and noticed blood around the area, investigators said.

The young couple was then found dead near a guardrail, evidently dragged from the truck after each was shot multiple times, according to a newspaper clipping from the North Adams Transcript.

Investigators said they found a fingerprint in blood on the passenger-side window, and it was entered into a database in Massachusetts, but no matches were ever returned.

The case went cold for over four decades. Then investigators got a tip.

Someone gave them Joley’s name and connected him to the double homicide, prompting a renewed look at the case, WWLP reported.

Investigators learned Massachusetts police had his fingerprint on file since 2000 when Joley applied for a taxi cab license.

The left thumb print from the application matched with the print taken from Harnish’s truck, and investigators learned that Joley had been living in the area at the time and bought a gun a month before the couple was found dead.

Joley was arrested Oct. 30 and agreed to be extradited Nov. 5, records show.

Marcoux and Harnish went to the same high school, investigators said. Marcoux worked at a local hardware store and Harnish at an auto shop.

Marcoux was remembered as someone who “loved to laugh and always had a smile on her face,” and Harnish was known as a “quiet, polite young man,” according to the district attorney.

This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Bloody print leads to ID of Florida suspect in 1978 killing of young couple, officials say."