It was one of the most confounding unsolved crimes that the town of West Springfield, Massachusetts had ever seen. Two young people, shot and killed in their car without any conceivable motive. This seemingly random double murder remained unsolved for over 40 years…Until police received a new tip that finally unraveled the entire mystery and led them to the door of a suspected killer.
November 19, 1978
It was just after 9:30 a.m. on November 19, 1978 and Patrolman Earl Camp was driving down Route 5 in West Springfield, Massachusetts when he passed the rest stop between the Memorial and North End Bridges. As he glanced over at the parking spots, he noticed something concerning.
According to reporting by Kelly Christman for The Morning Union, parked there in the lot was a beat up pick-up truck. The officer had seen the same truck earlier that morning and it hadn’t moved, but seeing it again, he realized that a window was shattered.
Getting out of his cruiser and approaching the vehicle, the officer saw what appeared to be blood pooling beneath the truck and a trail of it leading towards the edge of the parking lot. At that moment, he dreaded what he might find inside the truck’s passenger compartment…But a tentative peek inside revealed it was empty except for even more blood.
The officer followed the trail in the parking lot away from the truck for about 15 feet, past a blood smeared guardrail and down over an embankment past a concrete retaining wall. That’s when he found them: Two people, their lifeless bodies laying face down on the river bank about five feet apart from one another. It appeared they’d suffered multiple gunshot wounds to their heads.
Patrolman Camp called for additional units to respond to the location, and soon the rest stop was taped off as the scene of a double homicide. The victims were later identified as 20-year old Mark Harnish and 18-year old Theresa Marcoux.
Mark and Theresa
Mark and Theresa had both attended East Longmeadow High School, about 15 minutes away from the city of West Springfield. At the time of his death, Mark was employed by Shaker Foreign Car Repair as a mechanic and Theresa worked in the pet section at Brightwood Hardware, both in their East Longmeadow hometown.
Theresa had moved out of her parents’ house when she turned 17 and reports say that both Mark and Theresa had been living out of Mark’s 1967 green Dodge pick-up truck. They usually parked it around spots in East Longmeadow when they weren’t staying over at friends’ places.
The truck itself was in pretty rough condition. You can see a photo of it at darkdowneast.com. Carol Sullivan and Frank Faulkner report for The Republican that the driver’s side door was tied shut and the passenger door was missing a door handle on the inside. It’s believed that Mark and Theresa had to get in and out of the truck by climbing through the window on the passenger side. The truck also had a bumper sticker affixed to the tailgate. It read, “Staying alive is no accident.”
Early Investigation
As the investigation began to unfold that November morning in 1978 and continued over the course of what would become a 40-plus year case, investigators from West Springfield as well as East Longmeadow and the Massachusetts State Police worked in tandem to figure out what went down on that the patch of pavement running parallel between Route 5 and the Connecticut River.
West Springfield and Massachusetts State Police investigators documented the scene and photographed Mark’s pickup truck. The floorboards inside the passenger cab were blood soaked, so much so that blood could be seen leaking out and forming a pool on the ground below, which is what the patrolman had witnessed when he first checked the truck. In addition to the broken driver side window that the patrolman had seen, the passenger window was rolled down and the passenger door was bloodstained. The guardrail near where their bodies were found was dented and also bloodied.
According to reporting by George Latanzio for The Morning Union, the blood trail from the truck to the location over the cement retaining wall led investigators to believe that they’d been dragged from the cab of the empty pickup truck and over the guardrail where they now lay.
Autopsy examinations determined that the victims had been shot at point blank range. According to reporting by Stephanie Barry for The Republican, Theresa was shot within 12 inches, twice. Based on visible gunpowder stippling on his face, Mark was also shot at close range at least three times. Spent ammunition recovered from their bodies as well as at the scene appeared to have been fired from a large-caliber handgun, possibly a .38 caliber.
The rest stop where Mark and Theresa’s bodies were found wasn’t a usual hangout for them, but it was known as a so-called “lover’s lane”. Reports say that police routinely kicked people out of there for loitering but a former student who was familiar with the area said after about 10 p.m. each night police didn’t really bother anyone who might be there.
Mark and Theresa’s friends told police that they last saw the couple leaving a party together around 12:30 a.m. which would have been early Sunday, the same day they were believed to have been murdered. Other people who were in and out of the rest area between 3:30 and 6:30 a.m. reported to investigators that they didn’t hear any gunshots during that time and they weren’t sure if the truck’s window was already broken.
However, a witness who lived nearby told police that they heard multiple gunshots sometime around 4 a.m. Based on those witness accounts and the last time the victims were known to be alive, the time of their deaths was estimated to be sometime between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. on the day they were found.
In the coming days, police scoured trash cans, motels, culverts and road-side ditches in search of discarded evidence, be it bloodied clothing or a weapon that might connect back to Mark and Theresa’s murders. If they found anything, it wasn’t a metaphorical (or actual) smoking gun. No case-closing evidence that put an end to the fear that had infiltrated the West Springfield and East Longmeadow communities.
However, investigators were able to recover at least two bullets for ballistic examination. Some sources say as many as five bullets were recovered. As police waited on the ballistics results, they workshopped possible scenarios with the evidence they had before them. The killer or killers may have shot through the driver’s side window into the cab of the truck and then pulled Mark and Theresa’s bodies through the passenger window, carrying them down over a guardrail and leaving them on the Connecticut riverbank. That would explain the broken window, the bloodstain patterns and other clues at the scene…But it didn’t explain why.
The motive for this double murder confounded police. They didn’t find any money on Mark or Theresa, but they couldn’t confidently say if robbery was a factor.
The medical examiner found no sign of sexual assault and Mark and Theresa were found fully clothed in jeans, shirts and jackets. According to a UPI report published in The Daily Item, there was no evidence of drugs in their systems though there was an insignificant amount of pot found in the cab of the truck; small enough that police didn’t believe drugs or drug trafficking played a role in the shooting.
After speaking with friends of Mark and Theresa, police also ruled out the possibility that this murder was romantically motivated, like a love-triangle turned deadly or some sort of jealousy fueled attack like that.(10a) Police were looking into reports that Mark may have been in an argument or fight of some kind with some area teens over the previous month…But the more people police talked to, the more nebulous the theories became. These were nice, quiet individuals who didn’t have any enemies to speak of who were making their way in the world the best they could.
It remained a real, terrifying possibility that this was a case of wrong place, wrong time. A completely senseless and motiveless “thrill kill”.
Mark and Theresa’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.

Mark Harnish and Theresa Marcoux. Source: The Republican, East Longmeadow High School Yearbook (1976)

Theresa “Terry” Marcoux yearbook photo (1977). Source: East Longmeadow High School Yearbook

Theresa “Terry” Marcoux yearbook photo (1976). Source: East Longmeadow High School Yearbook

Mark Harnish yearbook photo (1976). Source: East Longmeadow High School Yearbook

Mark’s 1967 Dodge pick-up found parked in the rest stop along Route 5. Source: Hampden District Attorney’s Office

Suspect Timothy Scott Joley after his arrest in October 2024. Source: Hampden District Attorney’s Office
Episode Source Material
- Couple found shot to death by George Latanzio, The Morning Union, 20 Nov 1978
- Blood, broken glass mark death scene by Kelly Christman, The Morning Union, 20 Nov 1978
- Local: The motive remains a mystery, Boston Globe, 20 Nov 1978
- Young couple found slain in Springfield, UPI via Berkshire Eagle, 20 Nov 1978
- Couple slain in truck, UPI via The Daily Item, 20 Nov 1978
- Police quiz friends for clues in killings by Carol Sullivan and Frank Faulkner, The Republican, 20 Nov 1978
- Photo: Death Scene by Ed Mailey and Frank Faulker, The Republican, 20 Nov 1978
- Funerals set for slaying victims, Morning Union, 21 Nov 1978
- Police lift fingerprints off slain youths’ truck by Carol Sullivan and Frank Faulkner, The Republican, 21 Nov 1978
- Couple slain by ‘maniac’, police fear by George Latanzio and Christine Constantinos, The Morning Union, 21 Nov 1978
- Murder clues sought, AP via North Adams Transcript, 21 Nov 1978
- Theresa Marcoux Obituary, The Morning Union, 21 Nov 1978
- Police still seek motive in double slaying by Christine Constantinos, The Morning Union, 22 Nov 1978
- Crime left a hole in many peoples’ lives by Jo-ann Moriarty, The Morning Union, 22 Nov 1978
- Side police seek public aid in killing by Carol Sullivan and Frank Faulkner, The Republican, 22 Nov 1978
- Police await test results in West side slaying, The Morning Union, 23 Nov 1978
- Side double slaying still baffling to police, The Republican, 24 Nov 1978
- Public aid sought in solution of West side double murder, The Republican, 25 Nov 1978
- Cops seek clues in double slaying, The Morning Union, 25 Nov 1978
- Police continue probe of rest area slayings, The Republican, 27 Nov 1978
- Cops still seek clues in killings, The Morning Union, 28 Nov 1978
- Police probe motive for dual murder, The Republican, 13 Dec 1978
- Tests show .38 used in slaying, The Morning Union, 13 Dec 1978
- W.S. double killing still unsolved, The Republican, 05 Jan 1979
- W.S. police log miles in double-killing case by Carol Sullivan, The Republican, 26 Jan 1979
- Police remain baffled in rest area slaying by Christine Constantinos, The Morning Union, 05 Apr 1979
- Killers on the loose by Jo-ann Moriarty, The Morning Union, 02 May 1979
- Ex-convict ‘unlikely’ to have killed duo by Carol Sullivan, The Republican, 14 Aug 1979
- In Memoriam: Marcoux, The Republican, 19 Nov 1979
- Double murder remains unsolved year later by Carol Sullivan, The Republican, 23 Nov 1979
- In Memoriam, Marcoux, The Republican, 19 Nov 1981
- ‘No rhyme, no reason to it’ by Jack Flynn, The Republican, 28 Dec 1981
- ‘What we need now is a break’ by Jack Flynn, The Republican, 29 Dec 1981
- Daily News reporter Flynn wins AP writing award, The Republican, 02 Oct 1982
- In Memoriam, Marcoux, The Republican, 19 Nov 1982
- 5 years later, pair’s unsolved murder haunts W. side by Carol Sullivan, The Republican, 19 Nov 1983
- Arrest made in 1978 double slaying by Stephanie Barry, The Republican, 14 Nov 2024
- Photo: “This type of justice…”, The Republican, 16 Nov 2024
- Florida man charged in 1978 double slaying by Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe, 22 Nov 2024
- Man accused in cold case to return from Florida, The Republican, 30 Nov 2024
- Florida man returning for arraignment in 1978 double homicide, The Republican, 30 Nov 2024
- Hampden County District Attorney’s Office Press Release: Arrest made in decades-old homicide via Facebook, 13 Nov 2024
- Hampden County District Attorney’s Office Press Release: Timothy Joley arranged in 1978 West Springfield double homicide via Facebook, 02 Dec 2024
- Boy’s slayer should have been kept in asylum, family says by Bruce Bailey, The Star-Ledger, 30 Dec 1953
- Slayer of boy gets life term, AP via The Courier-News, 29 Apr 1954
- Police probe man’s story of 20 deaths, AP via Boston Globe, 30 Jul 1979
- A tortured trail, a score of questions by Harvey Fisher and R.S. Groberg, The Record, 01 Aug 1979
- Killer adds a woman to his victim list by Frank Lombardi, Daily News, 09 Aug 1979
- Authorities skeptical about confessed killer, UPI via Transcript-Telegram, 13 Aug 1979
- Detective seeks out confessed killer by George J. Latanzio, The Morning Union, 14 Aug 1979
- Fischer denies killing in Jersey during spree by Robert Hetherington, The Star-Ledger, 21 Aug 1979
- Confessed killer refutes claim of slayings in state, AP via Asbury Park Press, 22 Aug 1979
- Killer gets 25 years, AP via The Morning Union, 17 May 1980