Nearly 46 years after a double homicide, a fingerprint from a taxi license application led to the arrest of a suspect, officials in western Massachusetts announced Wednesday.

The case began on Nov. 19, 1987, when police found Theresa Marcoux, 18, and Mark Harnish, 20, shot to death near Route 5 in West Springfield, District Attorney Hampden said Anthony Gulloni.

Harnish’s Dodge pickup was found nearby with blood and a broken window, he said.

Marcoux and Harnish were shot in the passenger compartment of the pickup and their bodies were moved after the killings, Gulluni said.

A key piece of evidence was a bloody footprint left on the truck’s window, Gulluni said.

“Over the years, as the investigation continued, this latent fingerprint was entered into the Massachusetts Automated Fingerprint Identification System, better known as AFIS, and was also manually compared to approximately 70,000 known fingerprint cards. As of October 2024, no identification has been made. Gulluni said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Then, in the last month, someone came forward on Timothy Joley, 71, for the murder, he said.

Joley, who lived in Springfield at the time of the murders, had no significant criminal record, Gulluni said.

Investigators obtained Joley’s fingerprints from a 2000 taxi license application and matched his left print to the print recovered on Harnish’s truck, Gulluni said.

Police also discovered that Joley was a licensed gun owner in 1978 and had purchased a Colt handgun about a month before the murders, Gulluni said.

The projectiles recovered at the crime scene were from a .38 caliber firearm, police said.

With that new evidence, authorities obtained an arrest warrant, and Joley was taken into custody on Oct. 30 at his home in Florida, Gulluni said. Joley waived extradition Nov. 5 and will be returned to Massachusetts to face two counts of murder, he said.

No motive is known and there was no apparent connection between Joley and the victims, Gulluni said.

Marcoux “was described as someone who liked to laugh and always had a smile on her face,” Gulluni said, and Harnish “was known as a quiet and polite young man.”

Gulluni praised the families of the victims, who attended Wednesday’s press conference.

“I admire and respect you for the patience, determination and faith that I know you have maintained over these many years,” Gulluni said.

“Sadly, Theresa and Mark’s parents have passed away and have never known answers or justice for the brutality that was meted out to their children,” he added.