SPRINGFIELD — Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced during a Nov. 13 press conference that an arrest has finally been made for a double homicide that occurred 46 years ago.
Former Western Mass. resident Thomas Joley, 71, was arrested at his current residence in Clearwater, Florida on Oct. 30 for the 1978 murders of Theresa Marcoux, of East Longmeadow and Mark Harnish, of South Dennis.
According to a report presented by Gulluni, a West Springfield police officer found the bodies of 18-year-old Marcoux and 20-year-old Harnish outside of Harnish’s pickup truck in a rest area off Route 5 in West Springfield on Nov. 19, 1978. Each victim appeared to have sustained multiple gunshot wounds from a .38 caliber weapon, according to investigators, who concluded that Marcoux and Harnish were shot while in the passenger compartment of their pickup.
Their bodies were then moved to the area where their remains were discovered.
According to the report Gulluni presented, when investigators processed the truck, they found a bloody fingerprint on the passenger-side vent window. As the investigation continued over the years, the print was entered into the Massachusetts Automated Fingerprint Identification System and was manually compared to approximately 70,000 known fingerprint cards. Investigators were unable to identify anyone from the fingerprint for years, until recently.
In just the last month, Gulluni said his office received information from an individual who told investigators that Joley was involved with the deaths of Marcoux and Harnish.
Gulluni said investigators learned that Joley, who lived in Springfield at the time of the murders, was fingerprinted as an applicant for a taxicab license in 2000. With this new information at hand, two law enforcement investigators with expertise in fingerprint analysis were able to compare the unknown fingerprint they found at the crime scene with the one Joley provided for the taxicab license.
The investigators determined that the fingerprint from the pickup truck originated from Joley’s left thumb.
According to the report, investigators also found that Joley was a license gun owner in November 1978 and that he purchased a Colt handgun approximately one month before the murders of Marcoux and Harnish.
Based on those developments, Gulluni authorized investigators to seek a complaint and arrest warrant charging Joley with the murders.
Joley was officially arrested on Oct. 30 and held without bond at Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater. Gulluni said he waived extradition before a Circuit Judge in Pinellas County, Florida, and will return to Massachusetts in the coming weeks to face the charges.
No motive for the murders has been found, according to Gulluni.
“A guiding principle of the Hampden District Attorney’s Office is to relentlessly pursue justice for the citizens of Hampden County, particularly for those who are impacted by crime,” Gulluni said during the press conference. “The pursuit of justice is never easy, and it sometimes takes a long and circuitous route.”
According to the report presented by Gulluni, Marcoux, an East Longmeadow High School alum, was described as someone who loved to laugh and always had a smile on her face. Harnish, also an East Longmeadow High School alum, was known as a quiet and polite young man.
Marcoux and Harnish’s parents are now deceased, but some of their family members were present at the press conference.
“I admire and respect you for your patience, resolve and faith that I know you’ve maintained over these many years,” Gulluni said, addressing Marcoux and Harnish’s family. “I thank you for being here today.”
