Mid-Atlantic Murders and Missing

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More unsolved PA murders:

Delores Dellapenna 17
From Philadelphia PA, Wildwood
Disappeared July 11th 1972 while walking to a trolley stop. Torso found July 22nd in Jackson Township N.J and legs found on July 29th in Manchester N.Jin wooded area.

Valerie Seibert 16
From Philadelphia PA
Found on March 4th 1975 on a Wrightstown farm shot and killed.

Patty Bartlett 17
From Lower Makefield
Stabbed to death on January 13th 1975 at Oxford Valley Mall.

Shaun Ritterson 20
worked at Bristol Simon and Schuster book warehouse
Found nude, stabbed and disemboweled on June 12 1978 on a remote Buckingham mountain.

Earseline Jones 20
worked also at Bristol Simon and Schuster book warehouse
Found mutilated and stabbed on the Penn Warner Club grounds in Falls Township PA on August 27 1978
 
Just heard from the PA Detective in the Dana Bailey case, he is meeting with other LE in PA regarding the Markovich case, to see if there are links. I hope he finds something!
 
I saw this thread during a google search a little over a year ago when I started planning a cold case story at the newspaper where I work.

I google'd the words "Shaun Ritterson" and this was one of about a half dozen links that came up.

When I clicked on the websleuths link, I noticed Ben Finley's story on Bucks County being a dumping ground. Ben and I shared the police beat at the Courier Times for most of the last five years. (At the time of that story, he and I were writing about a recent murder and that story supplemented a package of stories.) Beneath his story I saw that sad, two-phrase summary of a life ended. I knew at the time I was about to begin an investigative story on Shaun's murder and I've been waiting to post the result here for a year.

Please don't consider this spam, though I suppose in a way it is because it will link to my employer's site. My partner-in-writing, Laurie Mason Schroeder, and I worked on our story while detectives have been reviewing the case and we - and they - are hoping the story can help them. Maybe you haven't heard of it, or maybe you have. Maybe you know something, or maybe you don't.

At the time Shaun was killed there were plenty of newspaper stories for the first two weeks. Then they dwindled. There were updates a handful of times sprinkled over two decades. There was a story in the 1990s. Ben Finley wrote a story a few years ago about Shaun's niece writing a high school report on her aunt's unsolved death.

Ben went on to write about several more unsolved murders, sometimes with my help and sometimes not. Ben, Laurie and I came up with a plan to write about Shaun, but before it got off the ground Ben moved on to - for him - greener pastures. So Laurie and I marched on. Our librarian Rayna Polsky helped me pulled up all we could find in our archives and anywhere else. Then Laurie and I contacted the district attorney's office.

It galled the prosecutor that served as our main contact for the stories that someone had gotten away with perhaps one of the most brutal murders in Bucks County history for 35 years and this four-part series that runs on our site and in our papers is the result of a year of communication between two journalists and a team from the district attorney's office.

Anyway, it is shortly after 11 p.m. EST as of this post. I've linked the promo video I filmed of one of our prosecutors talking about the case. The series begins running online in about seven hours. I'll post a link to part one in the morning. It is gritty. It is in no way pretty. But its honest. And I wrote my parts thinking about Shaun and her killer as the only two readers that mattered.

Ritterson promo
 

From the link above.

Experienced homicide detectives say that they can think of only a few reasons why a killer would gut a victim: as a ritual murder; to cut drugs from a smuggler; or tear out a pregnancy.

Ill add one more to that list.
To be eaten and shared or fed to others.

I don't think he/she/they would have just discarded the parts after taking them out and holding them looking at them feeling them. The next step would be to eat and or feed the remains to others to enjoy the moment when guests would ask about the meat and how good or bad it was. Just like in the movies or at times in real life.

A real "Sadistic deviate". Sex not a motive. But the cutting while alive, if true would be something the killer would see as a priceless moment and enjoyable time in there life. A torturer perhaps that enjoyed the fear created in his victims eyes. He placed her faced down on purpose. So when they rolled her over they would gasp in the reality of her being gutty. His only disappointment would have come from not being able to be there at that moment to see the expressions on there face when turning her over. Or was he?

Look forward to reading more of your story.

You should have yourself verified with the owners .

Thank you for posting.
 
zvzvzv, thank you for the comment. I did ask about that and was told by local narcotics police from that time period that THC was a local nickname, like a brand name. Seemed odd to me as well, but the report was specific that the kids called it THC and snorted it. I should have detailed it more in the story to explain though. Glad you still enjoyed it.
 
I am confused.
What is it that you seek?
You know more about this case than anyone.
What could we possibly tell you that you don't already know?
You have your suspects Yes?
Its because of you they have re opened the case and to investigate once again.

How may we help you?
 
Mr. T,
There's nothing specific I seek, but if you keep reading, its still an open case. Perhaps there's something that's been missed, or a question that hasn't been asked. Maybe there's someone on here who knows something that isn't in the case file. Or maybe someone stumbles across the case on here that hasn't heard of The Courier Times, but can help in some way. There's two more parts coming out tomorrow and Wednesday. Essentially I'm just putting information out there.
 
I've read all the Shaun Ritterson articles now, I hope you might be published in a magazine & at least somewhere to read the full story at once, the newspaper did not make it easy to link all the sections. I wish you luck on getting further publicity for this story. Seems to have a logical conclusion, it's a shame it took so long to put this evidence together.
MattCoughlinReports. have you done any research on the Gary Redner case?
 
Here are the last few links to the Ritterson stories. Police said they've had a number of calls (that's the gist of story 5).

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/loc...cle_f3f0c841-3d48-591d-9e56-b75c77cd4326.html

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/loc...cle_b2cd0e97-4b49-5214-81a9-4b16c447d657.html

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/cri...cle_affd8e65-3691-5c81-9a44-ce55a3609da1.html

Zvzvzv, I have not read about the Gary Redner murder its been a busy week, though I'll spend some time reading up this weekend. Looks like he was beaten to death but few leads.
 
More unsolved PA murders:

Delores Dellapenna 17
From Philadelphia PA, Wildwood
Disappeared July 11th 1972 while walking to a trolley stop. Torso found July 22nd in Jackson Township N.J and legs found on July 29th in Manchester N.Jin wooded area.

Valerie Seibert 16
From Philadelphia PA
Found on March 4th 1975 on a Wrightstown farm shot and killed.

Patty Bartlett 17
From Lower Makefield
Stabbed to death on January 13th 1975 at Oxford Valley Mall.

Shaun Ritterson 20
worked at Bristol Simon and Schuster book warehouse
Found nude, stabbed and disemboweled on June 12 1978 on a remote Buckingham mountain.

Earseline Jones 20
worked also at Bristol Simon and Schuster book warehouse
Found mutilated and stabbed on the Penn Warner Club grounds in Falls Township PA on August 27 1978

Shaun Ritterson was murdered in '77 not '78.
 
I've read all the Shaun Ritterson articles now, I hope you might be published in a magazine & at least somewhere to read the full story at once, the newspaper did not make it easy to link all the sections. I wish you luck on getting further publicity for this story. Seems to have a logical conclusion, it's a shame it took so long to put this evidence together.
MattCoughlinReports. have you done any research on the Gary Redner case?

I think Matt and Laurie did a great job resurrecting this. Before they brought it to Matt Weintraub's attention (the DA's office, now the official DA) he had never heard of the case. Unfortunately though, I think there is a lot more to this. I've been researching this case for the last 12 months and there are chilling similarities with some other stabbing, slashing and mutilations, most are listed in this thread. Really a lot more questions than answers especially having read the original 1977 coverage via microfilm. The timelines are different. And the nature of the murder could plausibly point to another kind of killing and killer. A "piquerist."
 
Hope this is a good place to post this link..
Philly Unsolved Murders: Philadelphia Police Turn To Internet To Help Solve City's Cold Case Homicides
August 22, 2019
"PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia police are turning to the internet to help solve unsolved murders. It’s a new step by the Philadelphia Police Department that they hope will bring justice for families of victims who never received closure.

Police launched Philly Unsolved Murders on Thursday. Authorities say about 88 of those unsolved murders were from this year alone, which is about half of the murders."
About Philly Unsolved Murders
About Philly Unsolved Murders
christine-coulter.png


"The members of this department and I are committed to supporting victims of crime and their families. I cannot imagine a crime that is more devastating to an entire family, and frankly to a community, than murder. Families, friends and communities are forever changed when someone they know or love is killed. We believe every victim deserves justice, and their families, friends and communities deserve resolution, and if possible, an opportunity for closure.

We are committed to identifying the people who are responsible for taking another person’s life. Identifying them is a critical step in a path toward justice.

We invite you to use Philly Unsolved Murders website as a place to learn various ways to submit information that may help resolve unsolved murders.

Thank you for your help. We remain committed to your safety and sense of safety.


christine_coulter_signature.png


Christine M. Coulter
Acting Police Commissioner


Click here to learn how to submit a tip.

PhillyUnsolvedMurders allows you to anonymously share information. To do so, choose “anonymous” when submitting your report.

The PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com website focuses on unsolved homicides - meaning cases where the people who are responsible for killing someone has not been identified.

We hope this platform brings attention to the victims of these unsolved cases and results in information that helps solve them. We think it is important that victims’ stories are told and not forgotten. Relatives reflections about their lost loved ones are included with their photos on this site. Our Homicide Unit is dedicated to serving the families of victims of unsolved homicides. Every effort is made to keep them informed of new developments.

A standing cash reward of up to $20,000 is given for essential information leading to the arrest and conviction of a person or people who committed a murder in Philadelphia.

***PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com was launched with cases from 2018 and 2019. Outreach to families of victims from previous years is underway. We will backfill previous years as quickly as possible."
 

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