Friday, April 1, 2005 (Courtesy www.napanews.com)

Five months ago today two young women were murdered in their Napa home. Adriane Insogna and Leslie Ann Mazzara were both 26 when they died just a few hours after handing out candy on Halloween.

Their killer remains on the loose. A reward fund for information leading to an arrest in the case stands at $100,000.

Napa police and other law enforcement officials have collected and tested considerable DNA evidence from what appears to be a gory crime scene. This evidence is thought to be "a glass slipper" just waiting for the correct foot to be found through DNA databases and old-fashioned detective work.

Investigators have been back east to look for evidence that might link the killer to Mazzara, who was crowned a beauty queen in South Carolina and attended college in Georgia before moving to California and going to work for Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery.

They've probed possibilities related to Insogna, who grew up in Calistoga, worked for the Napa Sanitation District, volunteered with the Napa Valley College athletic department and had many community ties.

The evidence continues to come back from the crime labs. Other headline-grabbing murders take place in other towns, and perhaps take precedence in the crime labs where much of the investigative work is done.

In criminal investigations it is axiomatic that the odds of catching a criminal are best in the immediate aftermath of the incident. As time passes, the odds diminish rapidly.

The block of Dorset Street where the murders took place has returned to some semblance of normalcy. Toys and strollers can be seen on lawns. Garage doors are open on weekends as people work and pursue their hobbies around their properties.

A home next door to the murder scene, empty for awhile, has been sold and houses a new family.

The yellow tape no longer marks the home where Insogna and Mazzara died. Investigators have taken custody of every piece of physical evidence that they believe will help them solve the case or convict the killer.

Repairs have been done to the home. A pile of wood paneling from the interior of the home was ripped out, piled on the lawn, replaced and hauled away.

Driving down Dorset Street today, you would never know what happened Nov. 1.

The glass slipper awaits.