Investigation Discovery’s ‘On The Case With Paula Zahn: The Year of Fear’ follows the murder of a 19-year-old college student named Deborah Tomlinson.

She was killed in Grand Junction, Colorado, in December 1975 and it took investigators nearly 5 decades before the homicide was finally solved with the help of cutting-edge DNA technology and old-fashioned police work.

If you are intrigued and want to learn more about the case as well as the identity of the perpetrator, we’ve you covered. Let’s begin then, shall we?

How Did Deborah “Debi” Tomlinson Die?

Born in 1955, Deborah “Debi” Tomlinson, 19, was a college student in 1975. She was an extroverted and outgoing child who loved to be around people. Her father, Jim Tomlinson, reminisced how she was an intelligent and studious child and had a passion for horses. Hence, it came as a shock when the Grand Junction Police Department of Colorado responded to a 911 call that stated a woman was dead in one of the units of the Tomlinson residence.

Officer arrived at the 1000 block of Belford Avenue, Grand Junction to find the body of Debi. She had been bound, raped, and strangled to death. Her autopsy report stated asphyxiation as the cause of death. Later, investigators would state that the sheer brutality of the crime scene was mind-numbing as it was unbearable to think what the teen had endured in the last minutes of her life.

Between 1975 and 1976, investigators gathered extensive evidence, such as blood and semen, as they thoroughly investigated the homicide of Debi. As per the show, their primary suspect at the time was Debi’s uncle and the officers extensively looked into him. However, by April 1976, he was cleared of all suspicion and the case became cold as the investigators had exhausted all possible leads with no new evidence cropping up.

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