American Breed motorcycle gang member John Allen Haak went on a date with Paula Otterman the night before she and her friend Toni Penner were found murdered in Otterman's Merrillville home.

The next day, Feb. 1, 1979, Dennis Muffett came to the townhome in the 7000 block of Fillmore Street and found the nude body of his girlfriend, Otterman, hanging from a bedroom doorknob, a towel tied around her neck. Penner was found hanging nude from a closet doorknob by a sweater.

A coroner's report indicated both women died from strangulation.

Otterman's 2-year-old son, Tommy, was found in the townhome crying but unharmed in a second bedroom.

Haak was charged with both murders in October 1979, but investigators were never able to gather enough probable cause to continue the case. In July 1980, the state dropped all of the charges against him.

Willard "Butch" Melcher was found in Kankakee, Ill., driving Otterman's car the day after the bodies were discovered. He told police he borrowed it from her two days before. He was charged with keeping the car without her permission, but those charges were later dropped.

Police found hair in the victims' fists that was similar to Haak's, but at the time, the technology did not exist to test it for DNA.

A beer mug with Haak's right thumbprint on it also was found at the scene, and Otterman had a bruise on her forehead that appeared it could have been caused by a blow from the mug. But a pathologist testified that it was not a definite match.

Haak's hands were listed as skinned, cut and bruised the day after the murder, with a witness saying Haak's hands appeared fine the day before. However, Merrillville Detective Paul DeHaven admitted he had heard that information third hand from an acquaintance of Haak.

-- Times staff writer Bill Dolan and Times columnist Mark Kiesling contributed to this report.