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Family desperate for clues decades after 1980 murder

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SALT LAKE CITY — Over four decades later, a Utah family is hoping to get some answers and closure about who killed their father.

The pain remains for relatives of Celedon Archuleta who was murdered in his Salt Lake City home back in May 1980. Since the case remains unsolved, his killer or killers may still be out there.

Described as a big man with an even bigger heart, Archuleta's family still can’t believe someone would want to hurt him.

“If you knew him you would’ve loved him, so we just want closure on this, we want to know what happened to our grandfather,” said Brenda Archuleta Robbs, Celedon's granddaughter.

After decades of investigation, reviewing leads and re-interviewing potential witnesses, police say the case has gone cold. Now, detectives are hoping someone out there will finally speak up.

“We want justice for him and we want to be his voice," said granddaughter Angie Bryan. "He no longer has a voice. We want to be his voice and we will continue to be his voice, so we are pleading for help from the community.”

Just teenagers at the time, Brenda and Angie say the pain of their grandfathers murder remains with them. The family feels strongly that there were at least two people involved and that someone along the way had to say something about the crime. They say now is the time for those people to step up and speak out.

“He was a big man! He was a big man and we know he put up a fight and now it’s our turn to fight for him,” said Bryan.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Salt Lake Police Department at 801-799-3000.