WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) — An anonymous tip, a partial fingerprint, and an application for a taxicab license led to an arrest in a cold case double homicide that has been a mystery in western Massachusetts for nearly 46 years. In a news conference Wednesday, Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced the arrest of Timothy Scott Joley of Clearwater, Florida in the 1978 murders of Theresa Marcoux and Mark Harnish in West Springfield. Around 9:30 a.m. on November 19, 1978, the bodies of 18-year-old Marcoux of East Longmeadow, and 20-year-old Harnish of South Dennis, were found outside Harnish’s 1967 Dodge pickup truck, which was parked in a rest area off Route 5. Both victims had been shot multiple times apparently at close range, with a .38 caliber weapon. Investigators believed the victims were inside Harnish’s truck when they were shot, and their bodies had been later removed from the vehicle. Theresa Marcoux and Mark Harnish (Credit: Hampden DA)Timothy Joley (Courtesy: Hampden DA)Timothy Joley (Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)Harnish’s 1967 green Dodge pickup truck (Courtesy: Hampden DA) After hearing the news of the couple’s death, a nearby resident reported to police hearing what they thought to be gunshots at around 4:00 the morning of November 19, 1978. The witness had never actually heard gunshots before however, and convinced alongside their ex-partner they were just hearing things, did not report it right after it happened. Harnish’s 1967 green Dodge pickup truck (Courtesy: Hampden DA) According to the probable cause statement of facts filed in the case, a fingerprint was found on the passenger-side vent window of Harnish’s truck that did not match either of the victims. The print was in a reddish-brown substance that appeared to be blood. In the late 1990s, this print was run through the Massachusetts Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) database, as well as manually checked against about 70,000 ten-print cards, but no match was found. Screening tests for the presence of blood confirmed that there was indeed blood on the passenger-side vent window, but due to the small sample size, it could not be further tested to determine whether the blood was human. Decades passed until a breakthrough in the case last month. The DA’s office was contacted by an individual who claimed a now-deceased friend told them that Joley was involved in the killing of two people on Route 5 in West Springfield in 1978. The witness told police that after hearing about the murders on the news, their friend told them, “That was Timmy.” The witness told police that they and their friend had never spoken about this again. State Police assigned to the DA’s office requested Joley’s fingerprint identification card, which the Springfield Police Department had on file.  Joley had been fingerprinted in 2000 when he applied for a taxicab license. A state police print examiner identified the print as coming from Joley’s left thumb. A check of firearms records revealed that Joley had purchased a Colt handgun one month before Marcoux and Harnish were killed. Joley was arrested in Clearwater, Florida, on Nov. 5, and is being charged with murder. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Special Coverage & Notices SIGN UP NOW