DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Note: The video is from July 2019.
The investigation into the disappearance of 17-year-old Tracy Kroh in 1989 took another twist this week, when testimony at a competency hearing for an 89-year-old Jackson Township man charged with burglary indicated he is a suspect in her case.
But due in part to a judge's ruling issued Friday, Mark Warfel, 89, might never stand trial for his suspected involvement in Kroh's 33-year-old disappearance.
Warfel owns a property where investigators in the Kroh case have made a least two searches in the past.
He has been in prison since 2019, awaiting trial for burglary charges related to his alleged repeated break-ins of a woman's home.
According to Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo, a hearing was held Friday to determine whether Warfel was competent to stand trail on the burglary charge, a State Police trooper testified that not only was Warfel a suspect in the burglary case, he was also a suspect in Kroh's disappearance.
Warfel is also a suspect in the death of his wife, as well as in several alleged sexual assaults, according to testimony from Trooper Jeremiah Mistick.
But Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Scott Evans determined at the hearing that Warfel was not competent to stand trial on the burglary charges, and there was no chance for improvement.
Therefore, Evans ruled, Warfel needed to be released from prison.
Chardo confirmed that he was deciding whether or not to appeal Evans' decision.
It was unclear on how quickly Warfel, who has been held at SCI Laurel Highlands since 2019 at request of Dauphin County authorities due to his advanced age and medical needs, would be released.
Police have searched Warfel's property on Mountain House Road in Jackson Township at least twice since 2019. The property sits just 10 miles from where Kroh was last seen on August 5, 1989, at the Alex Acres Trailer Park off Route 147 in Halifax around 10 p.m.
She was reportedly trying to visit her sister and brother-in-law who lived at the trailer park, but they were not home. Kroh dropped off items on their front steps and never arrived back at her family's home in Millersburg.
The trailer park is approximately seven miles west of her home.
Dauphin County officials said in 2014 that before Kroh disappeared, she was seen using a public telephone off of Millersburg Square. Her vehicle, a blue-striped white 1971 Mercury Comet, was located at the town square the following evening, August 6.
Officials added that her belongings weren't inside and there was no trace of Kroh.
In December 1993, parts of Kroh's wallet—including her driver's license and National Honor Society card—were found in an area along Wiconisco Creek, off Rakers Mill Rd., in Washington Township, approximately nine miles from Millersburg.
In 2018, Dauphin County woman Holly Mallett, came forward to police, telling them Matthew Webster, also of Dauphin County, admitted to her he was involved in the rape and murder of Kroh.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Webster told Mallet, "It was supposed to be just a rape and done but then it turned out to be a lot more than that."
Police then intercepted a call between Webster and Mallett in which Webster told Mallett what to say to a grand jury.
Both were subsequently charged with perjury.
When FOX43 spoke with Warfel in July 2019, he said he wasn’t concerned about the police search.
“I said 'what are you digging for,' and they said they thought maybe the remains of Tracy Kroh might be there," Warfel said at the time. "And I said, 'well you can dig all that you want but you aren’t going to find anything.'"
Shortly after that, Warfel was arrested on the burglary charges. He was never publicly named as a suspect in Kroh's disappearance.
Until now.