UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — State Police in Lebanon County need the public’s help solving a case that has stumped them for decades.
Game wardens found an unidentified female on October 10, 1973 in a wooded area near SR 443 near the Ridge Road and Tomstown Road intersection in Union Township. The woman’s body was unclothed and partially decomposed. “No identification was discovered with the body which had been covered with brush and green plastic tarps at the time,” said Sgt. Mark Trice, Station Commander at Jonestown Police Barracks.
State Police hope that a new forensic bust that depicts what the victim looked like will be their break in the case. Now they need the public to help figure out who she was.
“Family members or friends talking to people and saying hey this girl looks like ‘Suzy’ from high school, or something. Hopefully someone can say look at her, I don’t know what ever happened to her,” said State Police Trooper Nathan Trate. “I’m hoping somebody knows something and can give me some more information to go off of.”
Investigators believe the girl was Caucasian, had light brown or blonde hair, and was likely between 16 and 20 years old. State Police think today she would be in her 50s or 60s.
At the time of the woman’s death police say there were four missing persons cases in the area involving young women from a home for troubled youth. They located three of the girls but are still trying to find the fourth, named Betsy Langjahr. “She could be anybody and that’s why we are putting this press release out because somebody might know,” said Trooper Trate.
Trooper Trate has been on the case for two years and doesn’t plan to give up until it’s solved. “We don’t give up on people, I’m not going to give up on her. Our department is not going to give up on her, we don’t do that.”
