On August 22, 1982, 11-year-old Richard "Ricky" Stetson had gone jogging on the 3.5 mile long Back Cove Trail in Portland, Maine. When he had not returned by dark, his parents called the police. The next day, a motorist discovered the boy's body on the side of US I-295. It appeared the attacker had attempted to undress him, then stabbed and strangled him. A suspect was arrested for the murder but his teeth did not match a bitemark on Stetson's body, so he was released after a year and a half in custody. No additional leads presented themselves in the case until January 1984.