YORK COUNTY, Pa. — The murder of 70-year-old Charles "Charlie" Pohlman continues to haunt a small town in York County.
Charlie- by all accounts- has been described as simply a "great man." The World War II veteran owned a toy train shop in Hanover called Toy Trains Unlimited. The store was opened around 1971 and allowed Charlie to connect with fellow enthusiasts, including Ron Borsella.
"I know it sounds silly, playing with choo choo trains, but we went to meals together, we did a lot of stuff together," he recalled.
The two met in 1980 when Ron moved up to Hanover from Baltimore. He first met Charlie in Toy Trains Unlimited while trying to grow his toy train hobby.
"Charlie helped me like he helped many other guys," Ron said. "I started doing repair work for him in the late 80s. Him and I had train shows together, we went everywhere together. We became very close."
Everything seemed great in Charlie's life, until one July weekend in 1993.
"Charlie worked until 6 p.m. on Saturday evenings. I had been there that day to drop off some repair work. Sunday morning, [my wife and I] got a phone call [that] said, 'Ron, you've got to come up to Charlie's shop."
"So I went up," said Ron, tearing up as he described the scene. "There was blood everywhere."
Charlie's throat had been cut. He had been robbed and the suspect was long gone. Nothing else was missing from the shop, except for Charlie's money.
"Charlie, unfortunately, didn't believe in banks. [He] carried all his money in cash," Ron recalled.
Jim Bealing has lived in Hanover his entire life and hasn't forgotten the murder that shook up his hometown.
"At the time, my wife and I were really upset because this type of thing never happened in Hanover," he recalled. "It was really rare."
A group of Charlie's friends, including Ron, pooled together a reward fund for information regarding Charlie's death. A couple of months later, a massive tip came through.
"A detective in Hanover [called and] said that they just got a notice from a lawyer in Texas. The lawyer's client was the cellmate of this guy and this guy was bragging [to his cellmate] about killing [a] toy train guy in Hanover. He told him a whole bunch of stuff that wasn't put out to the public," Ron recalled.
The possible suspect reportedly worked in Hanover, at a nearby auto shop.
"I guess [Charlie] had his car fixed, pulled out a wad of cash, paid and that's how the guy knew Charlie had money in his pocket," Ron theorized. "It could have been you or I, but he knew who Charlie was. He knew his name and business."
Detectives quickly went down to Texas to investigate, but by the time they got there, the possible suspect was dead.
"That was it, that was the last we ever heard," said Ron. "To this day, we still miss him."
To this day, no arrests have been made in the case. The man's name and the reason for his jail sentence are unknown.
"No one ever found out anything about it... it was just a shock," said Jim. "They found [Charlie] there, and that was it."
However, in Ron's eyes, the case closed as soon as the Texas prisoner died.
"The detectives came [to us] and said that there was no question he did it because he told the cellmate things that weren't put out. The detectives said [that they] know it was him, but it will never [officially] be solved because he's dead."
But Charlie's memory and passion for toy trains live on. Ron recalled that in the late 90s, he told Charlie that he was going to retire in 2000 and buy the shop out from his friend.
Despite Charlie's death, Ron kept his promise. He retired in 2000 and bought the name "Toys Trains Unlimited" from Charlie's widow. The Toy Trains Unlimited, now located on York Street in Hanover, is in a different building than Charlie's original storefront, but the same passion carries on at Ron's store.
"The name will always be here, as long as I'm here, and [Charlie's] picture will always be [in the store.]"
Keeping Charlie's name alive through his work isn't the only way Charlie is remembered.
"A bunch of us, we still gather twice a year to commemorate him," said Ron. "We think about the good things that Charlie did. He helped a lot of us start our hobbies in train and start businesses. He was a great man. To this day, we still miss him."