NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A magazine published in 1976 is offering new insight into what may have been mistakes and missed opportunities that allowed Jerome Barrett to elude murder charges for more than 30 years.

Video: 1976 Magazine Reveals Details About Trimble Case

Police have said they never thought until last fall to look at Barrett in the deaths of Marcia Trimble and Sarah Des Prez.

But there was an article printed in Official Detective Magazine on January 1976 and titled "Riddle of the Murder-Rapes of the Tennessee Co-eds."

Not only did the magazine cover the two deaths, it recognized the Metro Police Department with a "meritorious service citation" for solid investigative work.

However, the centerpiece of the article, the homicide of Sarah Des Prez, went without an arrest for 33 years.

Police insist their first notion to look at Jerome Barrett in the cases came in the fall of 2007.

Why did it take 33 years to make an arrest in these cases? Less than a year after the deaths occurred, the magazine drew strong similarities between Barrett's highly publicized rape of a Belmont student and the rape and murder of Des Prez.

Tying the cases together in 1976, a detective wrote, "Of more immediate concern was the matter of comparing this case with the unsolved one involving a Vanderbilt University co-ed. Her name was Sara 'Sally' Des Prez."

A few paragraphs later in the article, there are more parallels to the cases.

The magazine writes, "Now, two weeks later, a rapist had violated another co-ed and the modus operandi was quite similar to that in the Des Prez case. Both victims were female college students. Both were alone in their living quarters when assaulted. Both were attacked early on a Sunday morning, and both lived in the same part of town."

The magazine pointed to Barrett by name, calling him, "a professed black Muslim who claimed to be a laborer for the Nation of Islam."

The article goes on to say, "Police admitted questioning him about the Des Prez case. He reportedly denied any knowledge of that affair. Investigators had nothing to link him to it and have made no accusations in that regard."

Despite this statement, there appears to be some clues to link Barrett to Sally Des Prez.

The search warrant police filed to get a DNA sample last fall said one of the key pieces of evidence that detectives have always had in the Des Prez case were hairs from a black man.

The search warrant also points to "a rash of rapes and sexual assaults occurring in the same general area" as compelling evidence that could point to Barrett.

"Obviously the evidence already existed," said Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman.

Some people are wondering if Barrett had been investigated seriously in Des Prez's death in 1975, could Trimble's homicide been solved or averted?

Barrett is set to stand trial in the Des Prez case in Oct. 6.