Forty years after 20-year-old clerk Carla Maxwell was gunned down while working the night shift at a Layton 7-Eleven, police are again asking the public to help close one of the city’s most haunting cold cases. Maxwell was working alone in the pre-dawn hours of April 25, 1986, when she was shot. A customer walking in for coffee found her behind the counter, and investigators at the time reported no evidence of a robbery or a struggle inside the store.
According to KUTV, detectives believe Maxwell was killed between 3:15 a.m. and 3:46 a.m. Multiple people were interviewed in the years that followed, yet no charges were ever filed. Forensic evidence from the scene has been revisited repeatedly as new scientific tools and casework methods have emerged, but the case file has remained stubbornly open.
Ballistics tie Maxwell to other killings
Over the years, ballistic testing revealed that the same .38-caliber rounds used to kill Maxwell were also used in the 1985 killing of Christine Gallegos and the 1986 killing of Lisa Strong. That finding suggested the cases might be linked. The connection helped launch a multijurisdictional task force in the 1980s and has kept investigators circling back to the evidence whenever fresh tips arrived. Earlier reporting on those forensic links is detailed by Deseret News.
2025 identification gives investigators a new person of interest
In May 2025, Salt Lake City police announced that DNA testing and forensic genealogy had identified Rickie Lee Stallworth as the person responsible for the 1985 killing of Christine Gallegos. On the heels of that development, departments began taking another hard look at related cold cases that might be connected.
Stallworth, a former U.S. Air Force airman who at times lived in the Layton area, died in July 2023 at age 65, so he could not be prosecuted, authorities said. The identification and the ongoing review of possible ties to other cases were outlined by KSL.
What Layton police want from the public
Layton detectives say any small detail, such as a late-night sighting, a vehicle description, or a memory of someone who suddenly seemed out of place at the time, could help move Maxwell’s case forward. They are urging anyone who might have information, even a fragment, to speak up.
The Utah Department of Public Safety keeps a public cold-case page for Maxwell and lists a tip hotline at 833-DPS-SAFE (833-377-7233). Layton Police can also be reached at (801) 336-3419. That summary and contact information are posted on the state’s cold-case page at Utah DPS.
How new tools reopened old files
Investigators say advances in DNA testing and forensic genealogy, the same techniques that led to the 2025 identification in the Gallegos case, have opened up new ways to work with evidence that once yielded few leads. Salt Lake area and regional agencies have increasingly turned to those methods in unsolved homicides, and that broader push is part of what led Layton police to renew their public appeal this month.
Local reporting and department statements about the Gallegos identification have underscored how modern testing can finally crack long-running cases, and Layton detectives hope the same kind of breakthrough is possible here. They say Carla Maxwell’s family and a tight-knit community still deserve answers, and that renewed public attention could provide the missing piece. Anyone with information is asked to contact Layton Police or the state tip line, since even a detail that seems trivial now could prove crucial to closing the case.
