It was what started out as a perfectly ordinary February morning, one year ago today, which would suddenly and shockingly turn horrific for two families and an entire community.

On the morning of Feb. 5, 2010, the bodies of John and Carolyn Tarwacki were found in their home on Carberry Road — victims of a brutal double-homicide. Their loss would impact countless family members and friends who feel their absence just as strong as they did in the days immediately following the crime.

And the killings would put local and area police to the test in a case that remains unsolved.

“It’s still pretty tough, to tell you the truth,” said John Tarwacki’s father, John Tarwacki Sr. “The first few months were like a blur. Like it wasn’t real.

“There’s always going to be a hole in our hearts, so to speak,” he said.

They were the couple who, according to friends, still seemed like newlyweds three years after their wedding day. Music aficionados, the two worked for the music company Quinlan and Fabish and were actively involved the community, especially in regard to music.

They were kind, caring and highly regarded by everyone.

And that’s just one of the aspects that made the brutal crime that much harder to understand.

“The one-year anniversary has kind of brought up some bad memories,” said close friend and Niles High School band director Steve Gruver. “I know it’s been hard on everybody.”

In the days after finding out about his friend’s death, Gruver described Carolyn as one who always had the right words to lift someone out of a tough time.

“She was the definition of a true friend,” he said. “She always put others in front of herself. She was a great, great friend.”

Calling John “quite the match,” Gruver had described him as having “the same pleasant, happy, bubbly personality.”

“They were the definition of soul mates,” he said. “That’s what they were.”

Of all people, for something so devastating to happen to the Tarwackis seemed unimaginable, said neighbor and friend Leona Hein.

“They really were — I never heard anyone who had a problem with John and Carolyn,” she said. “It was so neat that they found one another.”

The crime

As for Feb. 5, 2010, what police know is that the morning seemed to start out as any other.

There was contact between Carolyn and her mother, Sharon McKnight. The couple’s nephew, who had been staying with them, had left for school. Carolyn had logged into her computer.

Then, something went terribly wrong.

Lt. Michael Brown with the Michigan State Police told the Star in February 2010 that police knew the suspect or suspects were “definitely walking on Yankee Street at least twice. Once while it was dark, between the hours of 6 and 6:45 a.m., and once later, around between 7:30 and 8:39 a.m.”

There were no signs of forced entry at the home. Police say that could mean that John and Carolyn either knew their killer, let them in, or that person or persons snuck in on the couple.

Still very determined to keep evidence under wraps, law enforcement officials have been tight-lipped during the entire investigation.

Det. Sgt. Fabian Suarez has been at the head of the investigation since police were called to Carberry Road that day.

After fielding close to 1,000 tips and leads and interviewing hundreds of people, Suarez alludes that there is a direction in the investigation – though he won’t say exactly where that direction leads.

It seems several questions remain.

“We haven’t released the majority of (details from the investigation) — there’s certain things we’re not going to,” Suarez said.

He confirmed two weapons were used in the killings.

“One we believe was definitely brought by the person who conducted the homicide; one was used — was taken — from the house,” he said.

Suarez remembers walking into a puzzle.

“What I find unusual was … it was pretty sterile,” he said. “The whole scene just doesn’t make a lot of sense to you. A lot of times you go into a homicide scene and you can say, ‘well, this happened, this happened and that happened.’ With this investigation you stop, like always, you look around and you say, ‘well, this doesn’t make a lot of sense,’ just how it happened. The biggest thing is because of their lifestyle.“

Some people, he said, live a lifestyle within a type of circle that could put them in situations of danger.

But after a thorough investigation in which he believes police have learned everything they possibly can about John and Carolyn, Suarez said they don’t fit that profile.

“They’re both good people and they just weren’t involved in anything that would put them in a dangerous situation.”

Police believe the suspect to be a white male, late-20s to 40 years old with brown hair and a medium build. A sketch of the suspect was released.

In Suarez’s office, numerous boxes are stacked in corners and on the desktop filled with files of tips investigated by state troopers and detectives.

Teams of investigators worked on the case in the months following the killings.

Though he has access to additional manpower whenever he needs it, Suarez is the sole detective currently working on the case. It is on his mind at all times, he said, adding it’s hard to sleep without the person who committed the crime in custody.

A killer among us

John and Carolyn lived on the relatively quiet Carberry Road, on the outskirts of the city. Following the crime many wondered just how safe they were with no suspect in custody.

“Whoever committed this crime obviously has some issues,” Suarez said.

Asked if people should be afraid, especially those living in John and Carolyn’s neighborhood, the detective said, “If I lived next door I’d be nervous, regardless. Anyone in the neighborhood, anyone in Niles, everybody is still suspect until the investigation is completed. There’s still a person on the loose who committed this homicide.”

Neighbor and friend Leona Hein lives two doors down from where John and Carolyn’s home now sits empty.

She remembers being unable to get past police blockades to her home the day they were killed. She stopped at Howard Elementary School, where she received a call and learned her neighbors had been killed.

“It was kept very quiet, so I knew something was going on in town and when I tried to go home I couldn’t get down our street,” she said.

Thinking back, Hein said, “I’ve never felt worried” about a threat to her neighborhood. Based on news reports and comments from police at the time of the crime, she said it didn’t seem as if the killer “just picked some place.”

To think back, however, she said, “You try to think back to what you might have seen.”

The fact that nobody seems to have seen much and the possibility that even she could have missed something relevant, Hein said, “That makes me feel sad.”

Now, “I think we are more cautious,” Hein said. “About keeping our doors locked … it has made a lot of our neighborhood more aware of what’s going on.”

She was surprised to hear her husband had been thinking about the murder and Hein said they make sure someone waits with their daughter when she catches the bus to school in the mornings — the same bus the Tarwackis’ nephew, Kelan, rode to school the morning they were killed.

“Every time someone find out where we live,” Hein said, “that’s the thing that always comes up.”

The crime is being featured as Crime Stoppers’ Crime of the Week. Crime Stoppers is a donor-funded program that serves 12 counties in Michiana.

Police are encouraging anyone who believes they know who murdered John and Carolyn Tarwacki to contact Crime Stoppers and receive a cash reward of up to $1,000 if that information leads to an arrest or indictment.

Taking life in stages

There are, according to the famed Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, five distinct stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

For the family members and friends of John and Carolyn Tarwacki, every pathway through grief is different. Everyone is just trying to cope.

“There’s never a day, hardly an hour goes by that I don’t personally think of some memory of that day,” Tarwacki Sr. said.

Since the death of his son and daughter-in-law, Tarwacki Sr. said family, friends and the community have comforted him, and his church and has also sought counseling.

The holidays, he said, were particularly difficult.

“John and Carolyn always spent the holidays with us,” Tarwacki said. “We always had a big dinner, laughed and joked.”

When it comes to the fact that the case remains unsolved, Tarwacki said, “I don’t dwell on that … I just find that just pulls me down even more if I start thinking about that too much. Personally, I find I can’t dwell on that and try not to.”

It might help for someone to come forward, Tarwacki said. “But in my mind, it’s not going to bring them back, you know?”

Though it wouldn’t bring John and Carolyn back, it could put a killer behind bars.

“That’s what’s so frustrating,” Suarez said. “I know for a fact that we’ve talked to individuals who may possibly have information to help us move forward and they refuse to talk to you. If they can live with themselves, it’s unfortunate.”

“I think looking at what their families are going through, that would be a despicable thing to do,” Hein said.

As family, friends and even law enforcement move through this crime in stages, one thing is certain — the memory of John and Carolyn is not gone. And it remains strong in the hearts of those who knew them.

Tarwacki Sr. said that living in the days after their deaths comes down to a choice.

“You can crawl into a hole or you try to move forward, and you have faith that one, the case will be solved, and two, that my kids are just fine,” he said. “It’s not something I would wish on anybody. You wish it’ll never happen to you in your family, but it does. It’s something we never forget, that’s for sure.”

If anyone has any information that could aid police in their investigation, they are encouraged to contact the Michigan State Police at 683-4411.

“Whoever did this,” Tarwacki Sr. said, “if they would come forward and say, ‘hey, I did this,’ that would be good. I would encourage that. Not only for our sake but for their sake as well.”

Scholarships have also been set up in John and Carolyn’s memory at Niles High School for band students and through Southwestern Michigan College.