Within days of hearing the woman's allegation, a judge signed off on a search warrant to collect a saliva swab from her husband at his residence in Taylorsville. Detectives took photos of the house's exterior, and the woman's husband, now 53, while carrying out the search warrant.

According to witnesses, the wife, who does not live at the Taylorsville address with her husband, was also there when her husband was swabbed.

"There was an ambulance and police cars everywhere," one witness said. "She (the wife) was being treated (by paramedics) because she was having an anxiety attack."

Photos taken during the bizarre scene may include images of the man's Volkswagen van or a broken-down yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

But Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson confirmed that the yellow Beetle, which sits on the side of the man's house, is not the same vehicle that the wife owned in 1976 — a vehicle she told detectives her then-boyfriend drove "from time to time," according to court documents.

Detectives also took a saliva sample from the man's friend in 1976, whom the wife also alleged may have been involved.

No arrests have been made in the 1976 death. Hutson said it would be weeks, and perhaps months, for the DNA evidence to be properly analyzed from the two men.

E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com