COLD CASE: Family searches for answers in 16-year-old murder

Next month marks the 16th anniversary of a West Knox County woman's murder. She was found stabbed to death in her own home. Her killer is still out there.

"She was such a lady, such a lady," says Jan Tobler, Pauline's George's cousin.

Family members say 50-year-old Pauline George made didn't deserve to die in such a callous, cold way. Her final moments still haunt them.

Betty Fuller, Pauline's sister says, "The night she died, I didn't think I was gonna live. I didn't think I was gonna make it through the night."

On March 7, 1991, Pauline was stabbed to death in her West Knox County home. Her boyfriend made the gruesome discovery when he arrived at 7724 Luscomb Drive to pick up her up for a date.

He told her loved ones that after the attack, Pauline was hard to recognize.

Fuller says, "I just pray the Lord took her before she suffered too much."

Investigators say the suspect entered through an unlocked back door and that this was probably a robbery gone bad. Blood was everywhere.

Detectives believe Pauline likely died trying to fight off her killer. Bob Waggoner, Knox County Chief of Detectives says, "This was one of the most brutal crimes scenes I've seen."

Pauline's family members still live in the house she grew up in. They admit memories of the good times together do help numb the pain. They say they need to know who took her life so their lives can go on.

"I'm angry. I'm hurt. I can hardly talk about her without crying or getting upset," says Fuller.

Officers have interviewed close to 20 people in some way linked to the crime. They also tracked down a green truck that was spotted in Pauline's driveway the afternoon of her death. But there has never been an arrest.

Waggoner adds, "I am not a young officer by any stretch of the imagination, but I am going to be around for a while. We're gonna keep on working on it till we get a resolution."

It is a resolution that will be too late for some. Just nine months after Pauline's murder, her father suddenly passed away. Family members say he died of a broken heart.

"Please give our family some peace and end this so no one else goes to the grave like her father did without knowing what happened," says Tobler.

Fuller says, "I hate to see someone go to hell, but this person will if they don't ask God to forgive them."

If you have any information on this cold case, you are asked to call the Knox County Sheriff's Office at 865-215-2243.

If you have a case you'd like us to look into, email us at news@wbir.com.