Delia D'Ambra

But then, several months after the crime, detectives released the vehicles back to the family.

Why they did this is a question I'd love to know the answer to, but no one, not even Annie, knows why.

Shortly after the one-year anniversary, the case was cold and only growing colder.

So an agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who joined the investigation requested Raymond to undergo a polygraph.

He passed with flying colors, which it seems that's what ended once and for all any suspicion by anyone that he knew more than he was saying.

He told writer Christine Wolfe for an anniversary piece that he carried a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally, as a result of the attack.

He returned to work at the Key Biscayne Hotel in Miami, but life was far from the same without his youngest nephews and brother-in-law.

Robert Matsky's wife told reporter Joanne Lehman that she refused to let what happened to her late husband make her bitter.

During the first year of the investigation, she'd remained living at the condo her and Robert shared, and she'd gotten involved in lots of activities with friends and family.

She regularly gathered with her and Robert's adult children and shared memories of his life.

She'd also met with Maria Dumois, Juan's widow, and shared stories of all the good times they'd had with their respective families on Ana Maria Island before the crime.

Two months after the one-year anniversary, in October 1981, the Manatee County School Board voted to name a newly built transportation center in Robert's honor.

Before his death, he'd worked as the director of the district's custodial, maintenance, and transportation departments, so dedicating the space in his memory was certainly fitting.

By the beginning of May 1982, the case was almost two years old and still languishing.

And things were about to get even more challenging when investigators' star witness, Raymond Barrows, breathed his last.

According to Raymond's daughter, Annie, and reporting by the Bradenton Herald, on May 6th, 1982, Raymond abruptly died from a heart attack.

After he passed, his family made sure he underwent an autopsy.

During that exam, the doctor removed the bullet that had been lodged in his neck since the day of the murders and gave it to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

And I presume they did this because it was likely still considered an important piece of physical evidence in the case.

Around that same time, an investigator with FDLE told reporter Christopher Clark that authorities were looking into whether the head of a known hit squad, who is in Fort Lauderdale, could be linked to the unsolved murders.