*Warning, the following details may be disturbing to some readers.

It's been just over five years since people in Sudbury were shocked at the news of a grisly murder, involving a popular nurse who had just returned from a vacation.

Sherri-Lynn McEwan was killed in her home in Estaire, south of Sudbury.

The murderer has never been found, but police are still working on the case and are remaining optimistic.

Detective Inspector Jim Gorry is the major case manager in the Sheri-Lynn Mcewan unsolved murder investigation.

To date, the Ontario Provincial Police have conducted close to 350 interviews.

And for the first time publically, the OPP have confirmed that McEwan was brutally stabbed.

“It was a rather a severe stabbing that she took. It was very violent and I believe she would have died quickly.” said Gorry.

Just before 4 pm the day of the murder, October 7, 2013, McEwan arrived home from a trip to Las Vegas with girlfriends.

Police say they believe there was a staged break and enter at the garage on the property, and then the killer forcibly entered the house.

“She had locked the door behind her, and what we found was when she was lying on the couch, an individual entered the house by force, and entered that room, where she was. And committed the crime, committed her murder.” said Gorry.

Police say they recovered samples from under McEwan’s fingernails and from the scene, but some were not suitable for DNA testing five and half years ago.

“What we do, is go back from time to time and look at the samples that were seized at the time, and as the new sciences came into play, we may be able to enhance some of those samples, the blood samples that we obtained.” said Gorry.

In a bizarre twist in the case, McEwan's husband, Terry Boyle, took his own life three weeks after her murder.

Police have ruled him out as the killer.

“He was about 40 km away from the residence when this occurred. He was making a delivery for his job, and his cell phone indicated that he was also in that area.” said Gorry.

The OPP have posted a $50,000 reward in the case.

Police say they believe Sheri-Lynn McEwan was targeted.

The door to the house was kicked down; the killer committed the brutal stabbing, and didn't go anywhere else in the house, just in and out.