ORANGE PARK, Fla. — A stuffed, handwritten case file at the Orange Park Police Department tells the story of the murder Ralph Anderson.

“It is always in the back of your mind, what actually happened and who actually did something like this,” said Carolyn Berry, Anderson’s daughter.

First Coast News spoke with two of Anderson’s children, Berry and Willis Anderson. They don’t like to think about their father’s death, but rather the life he led.

“He was a great provider and protector,” Berry Anderson said. “He loved us and we knew it.”

A veteran, father, and grandfather, they say their father loved his family and especially loved music.

“As we grew up in our neighborhood, all the music came from our house,” said Berry Anderson. “All the neighborhood kids would come to our house to hear music.”

The unsolved murder case has now reached a major milestone, 40 years old.

It was Jan. 13, 1985, Ralph Anderson owned his own cleaning business, and his wife told officers he left for work like any normal day.

“She said she last saw him at 4:15 in the morning when he left to go work at Village Saloon,” Detective Gregory Swim with the Orange Park Police Department told First Coast News.

When the owner arrived just after 11 a.m., he found Anderson dead on the floor in a pool of blood.

“Nothing seemed to be out of place or missing, it did not look like a robbery took place,” said Swim.

According to newspaper reports at the Clay County Library, in 1985, it was the first murder in Orange Park in three years.

Swim said the first investigators believed Anderson knew his attacker. Putting the pieces of the scene together, the door was unlocked, so Anderson likely let the person in. There was no sign of a struggle, as Anderson was shot in the back several times. With all the shots fired coming from a .38 revolver, police believe there was only one shooter.

Swim said reports show a Clay County deputy remembered driving past Village Saloon that same morning around 9-9:30 a.m.

“He noted seeing a brown truck at Village Saloon, as well as a light blue sedan,” Swim said. “The brown truck belonged to the victim. As far as the light-colored sedan, we do not know who that belonged to at this time.”

That light blue sedan with a large CB radio antenna on the trunk remains a major question mark in this case. Could that have been the shooter’s car? Swim said investigators continued to work it for years, though it eventually went cold.

Now, four decades later, Swim says they have not given up and are seeing if fingerprints from the scene could be re-processed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He still believes their best hope at solving this cold case will come from the community.

“We would love to get the community’s help if they know anything or have heard anything throughout the years,” said Swim.

Though it has been 40 years, Anderson’s children say it is not too late to come forward.

“We need to know what happened and why it did happen,” said Berry Anderson. “I think it would give us some closure to know what happened.”

If you know anything about the murder of Ralph Anderson, contact the Orange Park Police Department at 904-264-5555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).