Investigators revealing new information as 10-year anniversary of couple’s murder approaches

FLORENCE, Ky. (FOX19) - Nearly a decade after Bill and Peggy Stephenson were murdered in Boone County, a detective working the couple’s case has shared new information about the investigation.

The Stephensons died on May 29, 2011 when investigators believe they were brutally murdered inside their Florence home.

The two, both 74, were well-known and well-liked for their work in Christian ministry.

“They were open and friendly with everybody they met. They didn’t meet a stranger,” Beth Stephenson-Victor, Bill and Peggy’s daughter, said. “Very involved with the church that they went to for years. Dad was a deacon, mom played the organ.”

Although 10 years have passed since the murders, Boone County Detective Coy Cox says he and his partner are following up on three solid leads that they have received within the past year.

[RELATED: $50K reward offered for information in Florence double-homicide]

According to Cox, one of those tips led them to a truck driver, a man who used to live in Northern Kentucky but moved to California. Knowing Bill worked with a chapel ministry at a truck stop, they tracked the trucker down.

“We had collected DNA from him, and that’s been submitted to the state,” Cox said.

Cox adds he does not know when they will get those DNA test results back, but it will likely take awhile.

He says the crime scene was complex because something had been moved, and then staged, in each room. However, Cox says they do have evidence, and at this point, they cannot rule out that more than one person may have been involved in the murders.

“We have a pretty good idea of the persons that we are interested in,” Cox said.

Detectives have not revealed what the possible motives might be. Beth says she and her two brothers will never understand how someone could take their parents’ lives so senselessly.

“I think it’s one of the hardest things that you can go through as a family,” she said. “It’s a nightmare that’s gone on for ten years.”

There is a $50,000 reward for information in this case. Detectives say it is never too late to call in a tip, even a decade later.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Boone County Sheriff’s Office at 859-334-8496.

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