The Arlington Police Department's major case squad worked Terry's case for months,

and her parents papered the area with flyers seeking information and maintained the reward fund.

But the major case squad was inundated with several other murders soon after Terry's case was assigned to their unit.

Although they worked every lead, the case remained frustratingly unsolved.

Before too long, the anniversary of Terry's

slaying rolled around on Valentine's Day, 1986. Anne McAdams said for a long time she had

checked in with the major crimes unit regularly, hoping for news. By now, she told the Fort Worth Star

Telegram, quote, I quit calling them because it was too discouraging. I have an uncle who's an FBI man up in Michigan.

He says, if you don't find out who did it in the first 90 days, your chances are slim. I'm not real

optimistic. As time goes by, it gets even harder. It's the first time we've had to go through

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her birthday without her. The time hasn't helped at all. In fact, I think it's gotten

worse. We cry a lot. By this time, the Star Telegram reported investigators had pursued leads

into seven states and had processed in excess of 200 people, everyone from Terry's classmates at

University of Texas Arlington, to co-workers in the

financial aid office to neighbors. It hadn't helped. They had no more prime suspects than they had

back when the crime first occurred. On June 6, 1986, the Terry McAdams case was reassigned to Detective

Ford because the major case unit was dissolved. A word about Detective Ford,

this investigator, whose notes I found to be very meticulous and well organized, went on to

become one of the most esteemed investigators in the state of Texas. He investigated the Amber

Hagerman abduction in 1996 and eventually launched the Cold Case Unit for the Arlington Police Department in the early 2000s.

During the 1986 to 2001 timeframe, the list of people that Detective Ford looked at in this case was exhaustive.

You've heard all the work that was done to identify Terry's killer. But with 1980s police techniques and technology, it was not to be. Over the ensuing years,

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