AMY GELLERT: Murdered by masked assailant in Cocoa Beach, FL - 20 March 1994

Amy Gellert had just returned from church and pulled into the driveway of her family’s home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on March 20, 1994, when a nightmare unfolded with savage fury.

As Gellert stepped out of her car, her stepfather, Bob Lehton, sprinted from the front door of their house — drenched in blood. Running behind him was a man in a black ski mask clutching a dagger and a gun.

The attacker had already stabbed both Lehton and Gellert’s mother, Bunny, and was now headed straight for Gellert, 21, slashing her before fleeing.

By the time police arrived minutes later, Gellert had stumbled to the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex and died. Her parents, who spent weeks in the hospital, miraculously survived.



The killer, who fled with cash and credit cards, left behind precious little evidence, in terms of fingerprints or DNA.

But during his attack on Amy, the man dropped the magazine from his pistol, which detectives quickly linked to a prop gun used in movies and theater productions.

Police also have a partial sketch of the dagger Amy’s parents described being stabbed with, which features an “ornate” hilt.

Fla. Investigators Seek Tips in Amy Gellert's Cold Case

Amy Gellert was fatally stabbed by a masked man in the driveway of her family's home in Cocoa Beach, Florida, more than 23 years ago

people.com

Amy Gellert had just returned from church in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on March 20, 1994 when a masked man with a dagger & gun killed her! #ColdCase

As Gellert stepped out of her car, her stepfather, Bob Lehton, sprinted from the front door of their house — drenched in blood. Running behind him was a man in a black ski mask clutching a dagger and a gun. The attacker had already stabbed both...

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Bunny and Bob Lehton returned from church to find a masked intruder in their Cocoa Beach, Florida, home.

"I see the man step into the room. And he's completely disguised," Bunny Lehton told Moriarty. "And then I saw that he had -- a dagger and a gun."

The couple was forced by the intruder to crawl on their hands and knees from the kitchen to the living room. While they lay on the floor, the Lehtons say, the intruder began pacing.

"I sensed, and Bob sensed, that he was waiting for a ride," said Bunny Lehton.

She says everything changed after "...I saw the lights coming down the driveway."

"And I saw the lights coming down the driveway," Bunny Lehton continued, "He panicked ... something switched in him and he just lost it."

Startled by the headlights outside, the intruder began brutally stabbing the couple.

"First he slices me across here," Bunny Lehton said, pointing to her neck. Then, pointing to her lower back, "He stabbed me in -- here."

"As soon as the lights hit, man, he came down with the knife in the back of my head as hard as he could," Bob Lehton said. "If I don't get to the front door and start screaming, no one was gonna get out of that house alive."

It wasn't until police arrived and Bunny Lehton got to the hospital that she heard the terrible news: she and Bob had survived their wounds, but Amy had not.

Who killed Amy Gellert?

A home intruder stabs a family, leaving a daughter dead - Florida investigators hope you have information that can help catch a killer

www.cbsnews.com