ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. — Quiet, hard-working, good... these are words used to describe 79-year-old Ivan Darling by those who knew him.
For Jennifer Rallo, Ivan's step-granddaughter, one of her fondest memories of Ivan was when her brother's school was hosting a Campbell's soup label collection to buy school equipment.
"Ivan ate Campbell's soup every day for the labels," she recalled fondly. "He'd save them and give them [to my brother] and he was one of the top label-getters at the school!"
Despite Ivan having no kids of his own, he married Jennifer's grandmother when her only son was in his 20's. The New York native effectively raised his step-granddaughter, Jennifer, and step-grandson, as his own.
About a year before Ivan's death, his wife, Eva, passed away. She suffered from a stroke, which left her in a nursing home for four years before her eventual death.
"Ivan was wonderful; he would go every day to visit her at the nursing home," recalled Jennifer. "We were a very close family, always have been."
Fast forward to a year later, Ivan had begun seeing another woman. According to his step-granddaughter, he had been seeing her for a couple of months and Jennifer was glad that Ivan wasn't so lonely all the time.
On Dec. 25, 1986—Christmas Day—the family had planned to take a trip down to Pennsylvania to meet with Ivan and treat him to a buffet at the Holiday Inn.
"My parents had been calling and calling, trying to reach him and they weren't able [to]," said Jennifer. "They thought that was a little odd, but he was out and about often; he had started dating someone, and we just assumed he was out."
In an effort to reach Ivan, Jennifer's dad called his next-door neighbor and asked him to knock on the door and let Ivan know his relatives were leaving soon.
"[The neighbor] went and knocked on the door and then he went in and found [Ivan] dead," Jennifer told FOX43.
Investigators at the scene would later determine that Ivan had died two to four days earlier. An autopsy of his body revealed he had been killed by multiple stab wounds and died from loss of blood, according to Chief County Detective Wade Lauer, who works in the Adams County District Attorney's Office and is one of the lead investigators on Ivan's case.
A murder weapon was never identified, but it's believed Ivan's wounds may have been from a knife.
"We immediately got in the car and went to the house," Jennifer recalled. "The parking for the house [was] in the back, so my parents told my brother and I to stay in the car and they went to the front of the house."
"My brother and I felt like it was forever that we were waiting," she continued. "I was worried about my parents because I didn't know what was going on. [So] I told my brother we should go out and make sure they were okay."
The pair left the car and went around to the front of the house.
"[We] probably saw a lot more than we should have seen, and I would say I've been haunted by that for the rest of my life," Jennifer recollected. "I regret that, for me and my brother."
The family was devastated; Jennifer remembered how her parents could barely walk straight after emerging from Ivan's home.
"We have no idea why someone would want to do this to him," Jennifer told FOX43. "He was very vulnerable; I think that's what's been so heartbreaking, I just think over and over about what he must have gone through. To die like that with someone who clearly hated him... he was just so good to us."
No suspects have ever been named in Ivan's case, despite police looking into numerous tips and leads.
Ivan didn't have much of anything, particularly money, according to Jennifer. "We were always helping Ivan bring in food; it was really tough for him," she said, "He was a very vulnerable person. Maybe [whoever did this] thought he was an easy target."
The unknown also haunted Jennifer's family.
"We were terrified that this person was going to come after us," she recollected.
One particular incident was when they found a letter at Ivan's house addressed to the family.
"We were so terrified by that, I mean, this is insane, but we were all so terrified [because] we thought it was the killer. My dad opened it and it was from the church, expressing their condolences. It just gives you an idea of the pure terror of [the situation]."
There was no sign of forced entry at Ivan's home, so the possibility that the killer was someone Ivan knew hasn't been ruled out.
Ivan had a planned date with the woman he had been seeing, but when he failed to show up... nothing came out of it.
"My father always thought that was very strange, that he hadn't shown and that person seems to have not reached out in any way, especially given how punctual he was," said Jennifer.
The family had even met Ivan's potential new partner, and Jennifer recalled her as nice. She believes the woman was around Ivan's age, which would put her at over 100 years old if she was alive today.
In 2021, Jennifer's parents passed away, leaving her and her brother to assist police in finding their step-grandfather's killer.
"With a cold case, the way things are handled now is a little different than they were years ago," said Detective Lauer.
In March of 2022, the DA's Office launched an official reinvestigation into the 1986 case.
"We have reason to believe based on what we see of the evidence that the motive was likely a robbery or a burglary," said Lauer. "There was no forcible entry in the home [and] that could mean a number of things, maybe he knew the person because there's no forced entry or maybe [he didn't]."
According to Detective Lauer, new and old people of interest have been interviewed with the reopening of the case, but still, a sole person of interest has yet to be identified to the public.
"In 1986, we didn't have some of the things at our disposal that we do now," Lauer said, referring to any new evidence found. "DNA was in its infancy and just beginning to be understood as a science, so there are things that we're looking at related to evidence collected that we hope to have some forensic success with."
Robert Glenny, the chief of Gettysburg Police, also believes that forensic evidence and new eyes will help solve Ivan's case.
"It's not that the case was not being investigated [or] had been put away, [but] what's happening now is we're looking at some of those leads again with a new fresh set of eyes and technology," he explained to FOX43.
Nearly thirty-seven years later, Detective Lauer knows the struggle of attempting to solve such a cold case, but he wants Ivan's remaining family members to know that officers are still working hard to solve his case.
"We're going to keep working," he said. "With this amount of time that's gone by, one of our hopes is that there's someone out there who knows something [and] will step forward for the family after all these years and help them get answers. I believe there's a person out there who can assist us."
And when asked if Darling's case will one day be solved, Lauer immediately said, "Absolutely, absolutely."
However, living with the unknown is far from easy for Jennifer.
"It's been torment, I think that's what been so difficult. I think people probably think, 'Oh, it happened a long time ago...' Well, my brother and I are still alive and we're still devastated," she managed. "I can't really talk about it without breaking down. I still have nightmares."
Jennifer says her entire personality has shifted due to Ivan's murder.
"I was a very different person before this happened, I would say I was more of an outgoing person. [Now] I don't trust, I don't really open up to people. I don't have close friendships, I think, because of this. No one is going to understand this and I feel like it's always there," she explained.
For Jennifer, police reopening the case hasn't been easy.
"Although we so desperately want to see some tiny semblance of justice, because we felt like no one cared for so long. It's also brought up [everything] again and it's tough, it's very tough."
Ivan loved Jennifer and her brother like they were his own grandchildren, she told FOX43. Despite not having much money, he always bought them toys and made them smile.
"The person who did this, they didn't just steal Ivan from us. They also took my grandmother's home and a large portion of our childhoods; it's just been horrible," she said.
No matter how small or meaningless someone might think any information they have is, Jennifer emphasized how important it could be to solving Ivan's case.
"Go to the police, tell them what you know. It may be a small thing that you have that puts everything together, like someone coming home late... anything," she stressed.
Anyone with information related to the case has been asked to contact the Adams County District Attorney's Office at 717-337-9840, call Adams County Crime Stoppers at 717-334-8057 or Gettysburg Police at 717-334-8101.
"This was a man who didn't really have much, but he was just loving, open-hearted and just a wonderful person," Jennifer told FOX43.