New hope

On Thanksgiving Day, readers of The Press Democrat opened their paper to the smiling photos of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall, who were killed in August on a Jenner beach.

Four months after the slayings, Sonoma County Sheriff Bill Cogbill says the case has reached a stalemate. On Wednesday, at Cogbill's request, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction and arrest of the killer.

The sizeable reward will serve two purposes.

First, it reminds the public that this tragic case hasn't been solved - and could trigger someone's memory of something they saw or heard on Aug. 14 to Aug. 16, when the sheriff's office believes the slayings occured.

Second, the large reward could induce someone who has been unwilling to speak to step forward with critical information.

Allen and Cutshall should have spent Thursday celebrating their first Thanksgiving together as a married couple (they had planned to wed in September). Instead, it was a day that the public was reminded of the tragedy that took their lives - and that the person responsible for their senseless deaths remains at large.