When crimes go cold, police are stuck with a burden that never really goes away.

That’s especially true for the most heinous of cases, and the murders of Cassandra Rundle and her children on Valentine’s Day 1985 certainly fit the bill.

In the latest episode of The Gazette’s Colorado Cold Case, which airs Monday, Dick Reisler, then lead detective on the triple homicide, talks about the toll the killings had on his life for years and even now, as the killer remains unidentified.

In a crime that shocked Colorado Springs and beyond, an assailant had bound, raped and strangled the 37-year-old single mother and her 10-year-old daughter, Melanie Sturm. Her 12-year-old son, Detrick Sturm, was also choked to death.

The attacks were committed behind drawn shades in the family’s tiny yellow rental house south of downtown, in the tree-lined Ivywild neighborhood, and there was no sign of forced entry.

After the murders of Rundle and her children, police were meticulous in their search for physical evidence, Reisler said.

Police collected more than 100 items that could bear clues about the identity of the family’s attacker, such as hair and fibers from the home. 

For two years after the murders, Reisler and a fellow investigator, Skip Arms, who is also retired, went back to the house on LaClede Avenue and asked the current homeowners if they could stay the night. They waited for the killer to stop by, but no one ever showed up, he told Colorado Cold Case.

Listeners will hear about the creative tactics used by Reisler and his mentor, storied detective Lou Smit, who worked with police and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to crack numerous cases.

In the episode, listeners will also hear about recent arrests in cold cases, thanks to improvement in DNA analysis, and details from the autopsy reports that suggest police possess multiple items that could yield crucial DNA evidence.

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

Colorado Springs police detectives investigate the murder of Cassandra Rundle and her two children on Feb. 14, 1985. The family was found dead inside their  Ivywild home at the 400 block LaClede Avenue by Rundle’s ex-husband.