I remember Oct. 18, 1992, pretty well.

It was an unusually late Sunday night on the sports desk at the Ledger-Enquirer. The Braves were playing the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. Game 2 -- a tough 5-4 loss in which the Braves had given up two runs in the top of the ninth -- was barely in the books.

We were plugging away to get the newspaper to bed with all of the Braves copy when L.C. Johnson, one of our sports reporters who lived in the 800 block of Broadway, called sometime after 12:30 a.m.

Something was wrong. There were police cars all over Broadway, centered on the 600 block.

It didn't take long for the Braves loss to become old news.

Word quickly got back to the newsroom that embattled Muscogee County School Superintendent Jim Burns was dead, stabbed to death inside his home at 620 Broadway.

For nearly two decades, many of us in this community have wondered what happened in the wee hours of Oct. 19, 1992. It has been a topic of discussion, rumors and conspiracy theories.

For nearly two decades, it has been a great mystery. Who killed Burns? There also has been another burning question: Why?

The answers should start coming today in Superior Court Judge Bobby Peters' 11th floor Government Center courtroom. Just three blocks from where Burns died, Kareem Lane stands trial for the murder.

On the morning Burns was killed, Lane was a Shaw High School senior. He was detained and questioned by police shortly after the murder because he was driving a truck that matched the description of one seen leaving the 500 block of Broadway shortly after the murder.

He was released and moved on with his life, becoming a Marine and later moved to Pell City, Ala., where he worked in an automobile parts plant.

A cold-case investigation led to Lane's arrest in May 2010.

Nearly 20 years after the murder, it spins back to the primary question: Why -- if he did -- would a high school senior kill the school superintendent?

It's a good question. Many of us can't wait to hear the answers.

Today, I live just across the street from the old Burns home.

It is beautiful these days, well cared for and one of the unique structures that make Broadway unlike any other street in Columbus.

But every time I look at the house, I think about Burns. Probably shouldn't, but that is just the way it is.

The police say they have DNA evidence that connects Lane to the murder. That evidence, tested in a Virginia lab, is likely to be at the center of what could be a lengthy trial that has dozens of witnesses slated to testify.

It should be an interesting few weeks as District Attorney Julia Slater's office tries to close yet another cold case.

Chuck Williams, senior editor for content, chwilliams@ledger-enquirer.com.