DAYTON — Abigale Payne vividly remembers the day her sister, Paula, was slain in August 1977.

"I answered the phone and it was the museum saying that (Paula) hadn't reported to work that day. My dad and I got up and went looking for her and we were near the (Ridge Avenue) bridge and I saw the police cars," said Payne, 47.

Paula Payne lived with her parents at 838 Manhattan Ave., near what now is the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. She sometimes walked to work as she did the morning she was killed.

"She was heading there a little earlier than normal because she had some hours to make up from the day before," said Dayton cold case Detective Patty Tackett.

Detectives said in 1977

that Paula Payne was not sexually assaulted at the time of her death, but Tackett declined to discuss those details Wednesday.

Tackett said detectives believe Payne's killer is still living in the area.

Police interviewed numerous suspects in August and September 1977, but by late September the case had gone cold despite a community-generated award of nearly $9,000 to find her killer.

Abigale Payne said her

parents, Herbert and

Katherine Payne, have since passed away, but finding her sister's killer would bring

"closure."

Tackett said anyone with knowledge of Payne's slaying should call (937) 333-7109.