The house sits on a slight hill in northeast LaFayette, Georgia. Chickens milled around a white picket fence on a recent afternoon, and the water from a small creek across the road could be heard from the driveway.
Twenty years ago in June, the house on the hill was the site of a brutal slaying that remains unsolved.
Five miles away from the house on Arnold Lane, a large box sat on a chair in Capt. Burt Cagle's office at the Walker County Sheriff's Office.
"Back in that time, they didn't have the capability that we have now with DNA, touch trace evidence and other means," Cagle said. "The actual case file is all in that box. We've got a lot of stuff."
The box has hundreds of pages of interviews, evidence, photos and even VHS tapes from the crime scene.
An entire box full of evidence that has produced more questions than answers.
On June 11, 2000, Julie McDonald - a Chattanooga pharmacist who was living at 75 Arnold Lane in Walker County - was found tied to a chair with a telephone cord around her neck in her living room. Her body had multiple stab wounds.
"It was really bad, actually," Cagle said, leaving out most of the gruesome details.
An autopsy found that McDonald had been dead for three or four days before she was found by a friend. No signs of forced entry were found at the home, and investigators believe she knew whoever killed her.
Cold cases are always hard to live with, especially for family members who want answers, justice and closure.
Jeff and Joan McDonald, Julie's brother and sister-in-law, are still coping.
"This was and is horrible and traumatic for our family," Joan McDonald said.
Photo contributed by the Walker County Sheriff's Office / Julie McDonald
What we know
On the day she was found dead, McDonald's Ford SUV was in the home's driveway. Investigators searched the house, and the only thing that seemed to be missing was her checkbook.
Days later, Catoosa County deputies arrested two men - Clarence George and Alphonso Pitts - and charged them with bringing stolen property into the state.
Joan said George and Pitts were introduced to McDonald by her friend, Andrea Rice.
Cagle said McDonald and Rice were living together off and on around the time McDonald was slain.
George later told officers that he used some of McDonald's checks days after she was found.
"We know that some checks were cashed," Cagle said. "He had written other checks and whether she allowed him to do it or not, I don't know."
A man matching George's description was seen near McDonald's house before the killing, Cagle said.
Although George and Pitts were interviewed at the time of McDonald's death, Cagle said the GBI and his department could never get enough evidence to charge either one.
The last time the case was thoroughly investigated was 2013. Cagle said the department put its best investigator on the case but eventually hit similar dead ends. That investigator now works at the state level, and Cagle said the case has been passed on to deputies and detectives as they are hired.
"It's good to get just different eyes on it," Cagle said. "People have other ways of doing things, investigating so we give it to people to see if there's anything in there that they could find that nobody else saw."
George was in the city jail in Birmingham in 2013 and was interviewed by investigators but nothing new came from it, Cagle said.
How to help
Capt. Burt Cagle with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office is asking people to consider the following questions and to contact him with any information that could help the investigation at 706-638-1909. The department will respect an informant’s confidentiality, he said.— Did anyone see something that seemed unusual or suspicious in the area?— Does someone know more details than were available through media reports?— Has someone made a boast or threat related to the crime?— Has anyone heard any rumors related to the slaying?
What happens next
Cagle said cold cases are never closed in Walker County. The McDonald slaying will continue to be investigated until someone is charged and convicted.
Joan McDonald said her husband has been mostly quiet about the killing and has tried to stay strong for the whole family over the years.
She said Jeff McDonald "had to back away and not talk about it in order to not fall apart for the rest of us."
Cagle said he encourages anyone who might have information on the case to reach out. Any information can be useful, he said.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.