Why has it taken so many years to solve the death of little Marcia Trimble? It was 32 years ago when the 9-year-old girl left home to sell Girl Scout cookies to neighbors.

Watch: Word On The Street (11/26/07)

Thirty-three days later, her body was found in a garage, barely a hundred yards from her home.

Strangely, the garage had been searched several times, including by a recruit class from the Metro Police Academy, before the body was found.

Investigators have stopped at nothing to solve the slaying.

Jeffrey Womack, a teenaged neighbor, was charged with killing Trimble, but the charge was quickly dropped.

Investigators claim the father of another youngster refused to allow police to interview his son.

Marie Maxwell, a neighbor, was hypnotized in an effort for her to recall more details about seeing Trimble with two people about the time she disappeared. However, this didn't help.

The child's mother, father and brother all passed lie detector tests.

Scores of police and volunteers rushed to the Trimble home to join the search.

But did that help or hurt the investigation?

"It was like a circus," said retired Asst. Police Chief Sherman Nickens.

Nickens, retired Police Major George Currey, and even Marcia's mother, Virginia Trimble Ritter, all believe important physical evidence could have been damaged during the search.

"We never had a case like this. It overwhelmed us," Currey said.

Had she been dead 7 to 10 days as one medical examiner ruled at the scene? Or was she dead the entire 33 days, which another medical examiner ruled?

Will the mystery ever be solved? Time and technology will tell.