Police hopeful new evidence will help solve 50-year-old cold case murder

Police believe they are closer than ever to identifying a potential suspect after new evidence was sent out for DNA testing. (@BaltCoPolice/WJZ via CNN Newsource)

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BALTIMORE COUNTY, Maryland (WJZ) -- Baltimore County police are still holding out hope of solving the homicide investigation of Morgan State student Deborah Scott, who died 50 years ago.

Police believe they are closer than ever to identifying a potential suspect after new evidence was sent out for DNA testing.

On April 26, 1976, Scott, who was 18 years old, was found dead inside her family’s Woodlawn apartment. Police said a family member found Scott, who was unresponsive after she had been stabbed multiple times and suffered blunt force trauma to her body.

“I’m just hopeful that the DNA studies that are being conducted yield some sort of answer,” Tonya Pease, Scott’s God-sister, told police in an interview.

Family seeks closure in 50-year-old investigation Police said Scott was a Morgan State University student. She was supposed to attend class the day she was murdered, but she didn’t make it.

Witnesses recalled seeing a suspicious blue Chevy van with an “ILA” sticker parked outside of the home the morning of Scott’s murder.

“I was at work, and I got a call, and I went home. I remember I went in there and I found her,” Jean Hayes, Scott’s mother, told police in an interview. “She was just a good girl. She didn’t bother anybody.”

Hayes said she had never given up hope that the case would be solved.

“I’m always hopeful that something will break,” she said. “I’m just sorry that she’s gone and that she’s been gone so long.”

“It’s more important to me to help Jean get an answer to what happened to Deborah,” Pease said. “If you know something, say something. Just help us bring some closure. It’s been 50 years. Let us get the answers to this puzzle, to this mystery.”

By Adam Thompson.