A body, clad in shorts and a light sweater despite the frigid temperatures, was slumped between the seats.

Investigators initially suspected the man, who died of two gunshot wounds, had killed himself, but they did not find a weapon inside the locked vehicle.

Police quickly identified the man as Dallas resident Alan Rehrig, 30, the registered owner of the Bronco.

Rehrig, a former basketball player at Edmond High School and Oklahoma State University, had been reported missing several days earlier in Dallas.

On Dec. 7, 1985, he left a friend's house to meet his estranged wife, Sandra.

His friend, former OSU teammate Phil Askew, filed a missing persons report with Dallas police after hearing Rehrig missed his rendezvous with his wife of less than a year.

The widow soon became a suspect in her husband's death, according to Oklahoma City police. She hired a big-name Dallas defense attorney and said little to police.

"Nothing happened,” said Rehrig's mother, Gloria Rehrig, who has spent the last 20-plus years trying to make sure authorities don't forget about the case.

Even though Sandra Powers didn't say much to police, what she did say was enough to stamp her as a suspect, detectives said.

She described to Dallas police what her husband had been wearing before he disappeared.

If she hadn't seen him that day, "She shouldn't have known that,” said Oklahoma City police inspector Kyle Eastridge, who was assigned the case in May as a member of the Cold Case squad.

No one has ever been charged in connection to Rehrig's death.

She has not talked to police since, and her attorney declined to comment when contacted by The Oklahoman.

An unrelated arrest

Eastridge said Powers "dropped off the radar” after the death of her husband.

"She's spent her life in one scam or another,” the veteran investigator contends. "She's always looking for the mark, the target, the rich husband.”

The dark-haired beauty once used her looks to attract the men with the right financial qualifications, Eastridge said, but later she reportedly resorted to posing as a Christian missionary to scam elderly church members.

Powers recently was arrested in North Carolina, accused of bilking thousands of dollars from a 77-year-old woman she had been caring, according to court records.

She remains in a North Carolina jail awaiting an Oct. 9 trial on fraud and forgery charges that could land her in federal prison.

Although she and her attorney are not talking to the media, She has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges and has no prior criminal convictions.

'He loved to laugh'

Alan Rehrig was an All-State basketball player at Edmond High who earned a full scholarship to Oklahoma State. He played football after finishing his eligibility in basketball, becoming the first Cowboy athlete since 1940 to letter in two major sports.

"He was a kid with a vibrant personality. He loved to laugh,” his mother said.

Gloria Rehrig described her youngest son as a good Christian who was close to his family and loyal to his friends.

After college, Rehrig tried his hand at becoming a professional golfer, but eventually realized it was not something he could do while working.

"He enjoyed it, but it didn't happen. Being the athlete that he was, he thought he could do anything,” she said.

Rehrig was 29 when he decided to move to Dallas in 1984 when Askew offered him a job there. Rehrig met Powers a month or so later.

"It was by sheer chance that they met,” Askew said.

Relationship sours quickly

Askew described Powers as an "alluring” woman whom his friend met while looking for an apartment in Highland Park, a swanky Dallas suburb.

Askew said Rehrig confided to him that he loved Powers after she had told him she was pregnant, so he encouraged his friend to marry her.

The couple wed Dec. 8, 1984, at Dallas' posh Mansion on Turtle Creek.

"I thought he had fallen in love, and I was happy for him,” Gloria Rehrig said.

It didn't take long for problems to develop for the newlyweds.

"As close as we were, he didn't talk about it too much,” Askew said. "We just knew it wasn't working.”

Powers said she had a miscarriage three months after the wedding, Eastridge said.

He said that is "absurd” since investigators have evidence Powers had a hysterectomy in the mid-70s.

Eastridge said Powers also pushed her new husband to get life insurance.

"She was basically using Alan as an ATM,” he said.

Birthday party, then nothing

Their separation, in the fall of 1985, left Rehrig living with Askew.

Askew said Rehrig joined his family at his son's birthday party Dec. 7, 1985, then left to meet Powers.

Powers called him early that evening to say Rehrig had never showed up at the storage locker, Askew said.

Askew filed a missing persons report after Rehrig didn't show up for work two days later.

Rehrig's body was found in Oklahoma City four days after he disappeared.

Eastridge said the body showed early signs of decomposition, but the blood on the outside had frozen, making it difficult for the medical examiner to determine the time of death.

"It's obvious to me as an investigator he died sometime shortly after he was last seen by Phil Askew,” he said.

Askew said he tried to console the widow after Rehrig's death.

"It wasn't until later on that the police opened my eyes,” he said.

An ‘unbelievable' history

Powers has a troubling history, authorities say.

Her first husband and a friend committed suicide at different times under what Eastridge called questionable circumstances. Both were with Powers shortly before they died.

Eastridge said there are allegations Powers has swindled a string of victims across the country.

Powers has no criminal record, but a federal judge in North Carolina noted her lack of assets and a confirmed employment history when he opted to deny bond in her case.

Waiting for justice

Gloria Rehrig has never given up hope that someone will be punished for her son's murder.

She has tried to keep the investigation into Alan Rehrig's death from growing stale, passing on whatever information she can to Oklahoma City homicide detectives, but there has been little to share.

Eastridge said investigators haven't tried to interview Powers after learning she is not cooperating with authorities in North Carolina.

He said he and cold case partner Mike Burke, an investigator with the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office, want to plan out their investigation before they approach their primary suspect.

"We want to have all our ducks in a row,” Eastridge said.

Gloria Rehrig said she is pleased Oklahoma City's cold case squad has re-opened the investigation. She hopes the publicity will prod someone to remember something that helps investigators.