Captions: (L-R) Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins

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Two brutally murdered teenagers may finally get justice after 32 years, in the latest in an eight-year investigation by Troy Roberts and 48 HOURS in “The Sweetheart Murders,” to be broadcast Sept. 28, 2013 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

48 HOURS: “The Sweetheart Murders” is built around the senseless murders of two teens who were in love and had the world ahead of them – until they were killed and dumped in the woods. The investigation into the murders took several unexpected twists and turns, including the wrongful arrests of four people, and a stunning piece of crime scene evidence that decades later gave police a gift they desperately needed.

“The wheels of justice turn slowly, but I’ve never covered a story quite like this,” correspondent Troy Roberts says. “48 HOURS first started working on this cold case eight years ago and we couldn’t let it go.”

The story begins in 1980, when college coeds Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins were headed to a birthday party for Sabrina’s sister, Andrea. The couple never made it. Police found their van 36 hours later abandoned about 30 miles east of Davis, Calif., in Sacramento County. A few hours after that, police located their bodies a mile away. Gonsalves had been sexually assaulted. Riggins had a head injury, suggesting he fought to protect her.

“It was just so traumatic; to see them and their bodies disposed of the way that they were,” former detective Carol Daly tells 48 HOURS. “I’ve never been able to forget it.”

Police got hundreds of tips and released a composite sketch of a man spotted in the area. Then the case grew cold, leaving family members to think it would never be solved. Six years went by before a tip led police to revisit a double murder committed by Gerald Gallego. A twist then emerged: Were Gonsalves and Riggins the victims of a copycat murder done in an attempt to free Gallego, who was then in prison?

Police in 1989 arrested David Hunt, Gallego’s half-brother, Hunt’s wife, Sue Ellen, and his partners-in-crime, Richard Thompson and Doug Lainer, and charged them with the sweethearts’ murder. They were dubbed “The Hunt Group,” and each of them maintained they were innocent. In 1993, on the eve of their trial, investigators found previously unnoticed semen stains on a blanket that had been an intended gift for Sabrina’s sister.

But would this new DNA evidence lead to the real killer and bring justice for the families left behind? In 2002, they got a match with the DNA, and it would take prosecutors a decade more to wade through 200,000 pieces of paper and 200 court motions to answer that question.

“32 years they’ve been dead,” says Sabrina’s sister, Andrea Gonsalves Rosenstein. “How many people, how many years, how much effort does it take to put one horrible person away for life?”

Roberts tells the story through interviews with Gonsalves and Riggins family members, investigators, and the Hunt Group in 48 HOURS: “Sweetheart Murders,” which is produced by Clare Friedland. Judy Tygard is the senior producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

Chat with members of the 48 HOURS team during each broadcast on Twitter and Facebook.

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Press Contact:  Richard Huff      212-975-3328    huffr@cbsnews.com