Police believe the Schleys walked in on a robbery attempt.On the night of January 9, 1972, Jackson and Daisy Schley came home from a shopping trip to find a stranger in their home. The man shot and killed Jackson, a 58-year-old retired shoe repairmen. Then drove Daisy to a wooded area, raped and beat her and left her for dead.After the attack, Daisy moved to Texas to live with her children. She died three years ago at the age of 81. Now, according to some excellent original reporting from Jennifer Sullivan at the Times, Seattle police think they may have found the man who killed her husband.DNA from the rape was matched to that found on a cigarette butt from a Mardona murder in 1968. Then that same DNA was linked to an Everett man with a long criminal history.Samuel Evans, the 73-year-old suspect, has served prison time in Washington, Nevada and Colorado. In 1987, he sexually assaulted and robbed a 66-year-old Las Vegas woman who had hired him to be her gardener.Although prior convictions and a long history of parole violations led Nevada authorities to suggest a 60-year sentence, Evans was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and eventually win his freedom.Evans moved to Washington only recently. Because he’s a registered sex offender, he was required to give the DNA sample that eventually led to his arrest. He’s also being investigated for another 1970’s murder of a woman in Pasco, where he once lived and, at the time, was the prime suspect in the case.The Schley case has been cold for decades, worked by multiple generations of Seattle cops. Ian Goodhew at the King County prosecutor’s office couldn’t confirm whether it was the coldest of all local cold cases, but common sense says there couldn’t be too many that have gone unsolved longer, considering most suspects would be dead by now.Evans won’t be charged until next week but will make his first court appearance this afternoon. The elderly man now gets around in a motorized scooter.