ROY'S RIDDLE: Can group crack case? 

 By NANCY HOUTZ 

 FALLS TWP., Pa. -- The unsolved murder of a Roy Rogers manager who was beaten and stabbed to death during an early morning robbery in 1984 has been handed over to a society of experts who believe they can crack the case. 

 Earlier this month, Falls Township Detective Wynn Cloud announced that the department was bringing the case to the Vidocq Society, a group of forensic professionals who donate their time to investigating unsolved murders around the country. 

 The news came as a last glimmer of hope for Terri Brooks' family, who for years have prayed that their daughter's killer would be found. 

 "They told us they were going to go over the case again," said Betty Brooks, Terri's mother. "Hopefully, that son-of-a-gun is still out there walking around and hopefully something happens that will bring him out of his hole." 

 Cloud said although he is confident the society can break the case, he is bringing the investigation to them without expectations -- noting that the police department has conducted more than 200 interviews and collected about 90 pieces of evidence. 

 "(We) investigated the murder quite strenuously over a two-year period," Cloud said. "But after all that, we came up with absolutely nothing." 

 It was an extremely foggy evening in February 1984 when Brooks, 26, of Warminster, closed the Roy Rogers Restaurant at Oxford Valley Road and Route 1. 

 After only two months on the job, Brooks was working hard to impress her superiors and often stayed a couple hours after the restaurant closed to complete clerical duties. 

 On that particular night, police said, Brooks let the last employee out at about 1 a.m. and then stayed to catch up on some paperwork. 

 "She was very dedicated to her job as she was with everything she did," said Betty Brooks. "She liked her job. It was what she wanted to do." 

 Typically, Cloud said, Terri Brooks would unlock and then re-lock the building's inside foyer doors for each departing employee -- leaving the outside foyer doors open until she left the restaurant. 

 At 7 a.m., the restaurant's day manager arrived to find the outer doors unlocked and the inner doors locked -- and immediately became suspicious. 

 The day manager went inside and was heading toward the kitchen when he stumbled across Brooks' shoes and store keys on the ground by the door. 

 Forging ahead, the morning man pushed open the kitchen door and was shocked by his grisly discovery. 

Brooks was lying on the floor, beaten and stabbed, in the blood-splattered kitchen. 

 There was also $1,200 missing from the safe, which police believe indicated the robber either surprised Brooks while she was making the deposit or forced her to reopen the safe. 

 The murder shocked Brooks' family and friends, who just couldn't believe what had happened. 

 "My husband called Roy Rogers looking for Terri and they told him they had to take her to the hospital," Betty Brooks said. "Well, he pressed them and kept saying, ‘Is she alright? Is she alright?' Finally, they told him she was dead. 

 "It was disheartening. It is the type of thing that never goes away." 

 Police intensely investigated the murder for two years, but never charged anyone. 

 Their list of interviewees included Brooks' ex-boyfriend, current employees of the restaurant and those who had been fired for theft, said Cloud. 

The society plans on re-interviewing many of the same people -- and will also review a psychological profile of the killer done by the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. 

Cloud stressed that although the murder was never solved, the investigation was well conducted. 

 "Nothing has been botched in this case," said. 

 Police are hoping someone in the area with personal knowledge of the brutal killing will come forward and lead investigators to those responsible. 

 "Someone who is feeling guilty may come forward," Cloud said. "Someone who saw something, or someone in who the killer confided and who now feels no personal threat." 

 Cloud is also confident that the progress of DNA and other forensic testing will help shed light on the case. More than 15 fingerprints recovered from the scene and sent to the Pennsylvania State Police Automated Fingerprint Identification System for review were never identified. 

 "It was very difficult processing (the prints)," Cloud said. "There was tons of grease (deposited on the restaurant's walls)." 

 Things were looking up for Brooks at the time of the murder. She was engaged to be married and had just earned a personnel management degree from the University of Maryland a few years before. 

 "She was happy with what she was doing," said Betty Brooks. "Things were going good for her. We are not hopeful that something will come about to put closure on it. This is something you can never understand and you can never imagining going through ... and you certainly never forget."