MALAD — Despite a Facebook post that provided hope that those responsible for killing two Pocatello girls many years ago had been identified and would finally be brought to justice, authorities now say the case is still cold.

Oneida County Prosecutor Cody L. Brower said this week he has no plans to file charges against anyone for the murders of Patricia Campbell, 15, and Tina Anderson, 12. The girls went missing from Pocatello's Alameda Park on July 22, 1978. Three years later, hunters discovered their skeletal remains in the Trail Hollow area in Oneida County.

Last year, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office announced that it was confident that the murders of Anderson and Campbell had been solved. The Sheriff's Office also said that it was confident it knew who the perpetrators were, what their motive was and how the murders took place.

However, after reviewing the cold case, Brower said this week that he would not be filing any charges due to changing circumstances and certain evidence no longer being available. Brower would not elaborate any further about the circumstances or evidence in question, or whether authorities have any suspects in the case.

However, Brower did say that charges could be filed at some point in the future.

After almost 39 years, nobody has ever been arrested or charged in connection with the murders of Anderson and Campbell.

In March 2016, the case was brought back into the public eye after the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office made an announcement on Facebook saying the murders had been solved and that the case was being submitted to local prosecutors and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. However, the Attorney General’s Office later said it was not involved in the case.

The Facebook proclamation from the Oneida County Sheriff's Office made it sound like arrests were imminent for the murders.

“Even though physical evidence has been lost through the years, investigators have done multiple interviews with suspects and witnesses that have led to conclusions of what happened,” the Facebook post from the Sheriff's Office stated. “Even though the evidence is circumstantial it is very strong evidence.”

The post also said that in 1998, then-Oneida County Sheriff Jeff Semrad was given a manila envelope from a state investigator that contained a few statements, reports and photos regarding the Anderson/Campbell case. Based on these documents, according to the Sheriff's Office's Facebook post, investigators from Oneida County and elsewhere pursued leads and statements, ultimately solving the case.

But so far there have no arrests or charges in the case. 

Arne Jones, the current Oneida County sheriff who replaced Semrad earlier this year, said on Monday that the Anderson/Campbell case is an active investigation and that authorities are continuing to investigate “persons of interest.”

But for now it's a cold case that's remaining cold.