Thirty-three years after her sister’s disappearance, Faye Farmer, 63, of Marietta, says she is terrified for her own and her family’s safety now that a man suspected by law enforcement of the murder is out of prison.

“I’m just stuck,” said Farmer as she choked back tears on Monday. “I’m seriously stuck and don’t know which way to go. I got a letter from the West Virginia Parole Board saying I need to get steel doors and change my phone number and always have a full tank of gas in case I need to get away… All I want is justice, I want him to account for what he did to my sister. He’s going to kill again someday.”

Farmer’s sister, Cathleen Farmer Gill, was killed after accepting a ride home from a bar at Seventh and Avery streets in Parkersburg in March of 1984.

Two men eventually confessed to the rape, murder and disposal of Gill’s body into the Ohio River, but the third suspect was never indicted in the case. He was recently released from a West Virginia prison after serving more than 20 years on burglary and conspiracy to commit a felony charges in Wood County. He was also convicted for killing a fellow inmate back in the 1980s, but the conviction was tossed out in 2008 by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals because the judge at the time improperly required Gibson’s defense witnesses to wear prison clothes and shackles.

Gary Allen “Rocky” Gibson, 61, of Parkersburg, was released March 21 but local officials say though he’s always been the third person of interest in the Gill murder, there is no current plan to present a case against Gibson to a grand jury for indictment. A case against Gibson was scheduled to be presented to a grand jury in 2012 under former county prosecutor Jim Schneider but was never presented.

“We have no new evidence or witnesses,” said Washington County Prosecutor Kevin Rings. “The witnesses we do have are scared to death of him. And at this point we don’t have much to go on without a body.”

Washington County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Detective Lt. Bruce Schuck was one of the original investigators on the case in 1985 when the first of Gill’s killers brought forward the murder confession. The two men convicted said they killed Gill by choking the 36-year-old mother of five with a broom handle.

Steven Scott Carmichael, 52, has been incarcerated for the murder for the past 30 years. Carmichael, along with Richard M. Starkey, told local law enforcement that they had taken Gill to a Belpre apartment from the bar and had raped and murdered her.

“They both pleaded guilty and Starkey has already done his time and been released,” said Schuck. “Carmichael is still incarcerated but to this day neither will testify against Rocky in open court.”

Schuck said the case is challenging not only because the pair won’t testify, though.

“It’s not just will they testify, it’s the credibility of two convicted felons’ testimony and if we have both the corroborating evidence and the independent witnesses to prove Gibson’s involvement,” he explained. “And we’ve tried to interview (Gibson,) but he had nothing to say to us.”

Despite the lack of evidence or outside witnesses, Rings said law enforcement on both sides of the river haven’t forgotten Gibson and are staying alert to his movements.

“They haven’t forgotten him and his violence,” said the prosecutor.

But Farmer still holds out hope that one day her sister’s remains will be found and Gibson will be indicted.

“I don’t know what to tell her kids anymore and every time I go somewhere it never fails that someone asks how I’m doing because of her death,” said Farmer. “I dreamed about Cathy last night, but I just have to keep on going.”

At a glance

¯ The man named by police as a suspect in the 1984 murder of Cathleen Farmer Gill was released from a West Virginia prison last week.

¯ Gary Allen “Rocky” Gibson, 61, of Parkersburg, was released March 21 but local officials say though he’s always been the third person of interest in the Gill murder, there is no current plan to indict him in the case.

Sources: Washington County Sheriff’s and Prosecutor’s offices.