The night before 10-year-old Melanie Sturm was found slain in her Ivywild home alongside her mother and older brother on Feb. 14, 1985, she was surrounded by her classmates at Cañon Elementary School’s bazaar.

The fifth-grader danced in pink plastic shoes and wore a black hat with blinking multicolored lights in the hopes that it would bring good luck to her Coney Island hot dog stand, according to a newspaper account.

The next morning, on Valentine’s Day, Melanie Sturm wasn’t in class. 

The story of a young family of three, slaughtered in their home on LaClede Avenue, hit the evening edition of the Gazette-Telegraph. Children walking home from school watched as investigators milled about the home encircled in crime tape.

The still-unsolved triple murder continues to haunt people who knew Cassandra Rundle and her two children, 12-year-old Detrick Sturm and 10-year-old Melanie Sturm.

The third episode of Colorado Cold Case, Season 4 — which goes live Monday — looks at the ways Melanie’s classmates grappled with her death while detectives hunted in vain for the person responsible.

The six-episode series, reported and produced by The Gazette, features interviews with retired detectives, former students and others who yearn for justice. 

Seasons 1-4 of Colorado Cold Case can be found on iTunes, Spotify and wherever else you get your podcasts.

Melanie Sturm. Age 10.