The quiet of a summer night was shattered by gunfire on Thursday, July 11, 1985, leaving two friends, Bart Spayd, 26, and Thomas Garvey, 29, dead in the driveway of Garvey’s home in Newark, Delaware. The discovery of their bodies in the gravel drive at 2195 Pleasant Valley Road marked the beginning of a double homicide investigation that has remained unsolved for decades, leaving a permanent scar on their families and the community.
Bart Spayd was the son of Leland and Ruth Spayd and grew up with his brothers, Larry and Lee. While few public details of his life are available, his inclusion in the fabric of his family was evident. His life was cut short before he had the chance to build a future, his memory preserved in the hearts of those who knew him and in the stark details of an unresolved crime.
On the night of the murders, the rural calm of Pleasant Valley Road, a stretch of modest country homes near the Glasgow area off U.S. 40, was irrevocably broken.
When Delaware State Police troopers arrived at the scene, they found both Bart and his friend Thomas lying outside the house, each having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The two young men were pronounced dead at the scene, turning the driveway into a crime scene under the porch light.
The initial investigation offered few immediate answers. Detectives canvassed the neighborhood, but no one had witnessed the shooting itself. Some neighbors reported hearing the sound of a car speeding away from the residence shortly after the gunshots, but they could not provide a description of the vehicle or its occupants. With no eyewitnesses and a scarcity of physical evidence publicly disclosed, investigators were left with a sparse timeline and no clear motive for the brutal killings. The case, handled by the Delaware State Police, quickly went cold.
In the years and decades that followed, the double homicide of Bart Spayd and Thomas Garvey has become one of New Castle County’s most enduring mysteries. The case file remains open within the Delaware State Police's Homicide Unit, a silent testament to two lives taken without explanation. Periodically, authorities have appealed to the public for information, hoping that someone with knowledge of the crime might finally come forward, but no arrests have ever been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified.
The case stands as a painful, unanswered question for the families of the two men. It is listed among the unsolved homicides on the Delaware State Police website, a reminder that justice has not yet been served. As of today, the investigation is ongoing. The Delaware State Police continue to seek information that could lead to a breakthrough. Anyone with information regarding the murders of Bart Spayd and Thomas Garvey is encouraged to contact the DSP Homicide Unit at (302) 739-5939 or to submit a tip through Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.
