COBB COUNTY, GA (CBS46) -
Under a tree, shielded from rain and shadowed from view, is a small, heart-shaped marker.
Detective Morris Nix knows the spot well, along with every detail of a little girl’s brutal death.
Who killed Deborah Lynn Randall?

“She was a beautiful kid. You look at her picture and you can see the innocence," said Nix.

Debbie was 9-years-old when she vanished. It’s been more than 43 years and still, her death remains a mystery.

Her big brother, Melvin Randall, remembers it vividly.

"I remember that day totally and that evening and everything else.The reporters. I remember going to everyone’s house that evening, looking for her, trying to figure out where she could be," said Melvin Randall.

It was 1972 and the Randall family lived in public a housing complex on First Street. Across from the apartment, was the local laundromat.

"The laundromat was like 75 yards from our house," said Melvin Randall.

On the afternoon of January 13, Debbie was there washing clothes with friends. After some time passed, her mother began to worry. And when the family went to check on her she was gone.
A woman who worked there said she saw Debbie leave hours earlier.

"So she started walking home and they grabbed her out in the parking lot," said Debbie's mother, Juanita Randall.

Police found laundry soap splattered on the pavement in the parking lot.

Then on a rainy evening at dusk, Debbie was found dead lying face down wearing the long-sleeved lavender dress she wore to school the day she was kidnapped, raped, and killed.

“I just remember doing a lot of crying and everything else. It was all crazy," said Melvin Randall.

As time ticked on, the case took many twists and turns. Every new lead brought hope, followed by disappointment for the Randall family.

After years of dwelling on Debbie’s death, the Randalls decided it was time to bury the past. So they moved to a place in Alabama surrounded by fields of cotton and soybeans and the quiet calm of a lake that masks the depth of their pain.

But when the phone rang a few months ago, memories came flooding back.

“It surprised me in the first place when they called me after 43 years," said Melvin Randall.

“And they have a detective ready to roll with us once we complete the review," said Dawes.

It turns out Debbie’s killer left clues, including witness descriptions of his truck and a small amount of DNA that detectives have just now been able to extract and submit into CODIS – a national evidence database. It’s the closest they’ve come yet to cracking the case.

“That’s what gives us hope. The technology they got nowadays that they didn’t have then. That’s what gives us hope," said Melvin Randall.

But time is running out for Juanita Randall who is fighting an aggressive form of leukemia. Her dying wish is to know – once and for all – who killed her little freckle-faced girl.

“I’d give anything if I could find out who it was before I pass away," said Juanita Randall.

Detectives are hopeful they’ll be able to grant that wish, but they still need that crucial match through DNA to bring closure to the case and the Randall family.

"Many times you believe you know the answer and you just can’t get there as far as evidence," said Dawes.

Detectives now have a short list of suspects that they hope to narrow down to just one. In the meantime, Debbie’s family believes someone may have information to help them crack the case.

“Please tell them, please tell them. It’s been too long, you know," said Melvin Randall.

Until then, the family clings to memories and a box full of Debbie’s doll clothes and small toys; a few precious photographs.

Copyright 2015 WGCL-TV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.

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