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Nov 9 2022 By Rick Earle, WPXI-TV
Murder at the Car Wash: New information on a cold case gives victim’s family hope
A woman was found murdered at a car wash over 30 years ago, but there have been no arrests. Target 11's Rick Earle finds out why a combination of new and old evidence is giving police hope -- in a Channel 11 exclusive investigation tonight at 11:15 p.m.
SOUTH GREENSBURG, Pa. — Could new information and old evidence help to solve a 32-year-old murder mystery?
In April 1990, a 25-year-old woman was found dead in her car at a local car wash. To this day, the case remains unsolved.
But Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle discovered that police are hoping a combination of the old and new will lead them to the killer.
“It’s been 32 years, and there’s never been nothing. Absolutely nothing,” said Kathy Waggoner from her home in Irwin.
It’s been 32 years since Kathy Waggoner’s sister-in-law, Deborah June Waggoner, was found dead in her car at a car wash in Hempfield Township. Police said she had been murdered.
Debbie Waggoner was living with her boyfriend and his mother at their home in South Greensburg at the time. She was managing a local fast food restaurant. In the early evening on April 18, Debbie went out to buy cigarettes for her boyfriend and get her car washed.
The operator of the car wash was locking up for the night. According to police, he saw Debbie vacuuming her car by herself. The next day around 5 a.m., a police officer on patrol spotted the vehicle still parked in the same place.
“He was able to see that there was a female that was slumped in the vehicle,” said State Police Trooper Steve Limani, a public information officer based in Greensburg who spoke with investigators about the case.
Limani also showed us an aerial photo of the crime scene taken that day 32 years ago.
In that photo, Debbie’s green sedan can be seen still parked at the vacuum cleaner.
According to reports at the time, Debbie struggled with her killer while being strangled by her own sweater.
An autopsy reportedly revealed traces of skin tissue under her fingernails.
No one has ever been charged with the crime.''
“Something needs to be done, really. Answers. We just want answers. I would like to put everyone at rest,” said Kathy Waggoner.
Family members said police told them Debbie was not sexually assaulted or robbed and they said her boyfriend cooperated with investigators and even passed a polygraph test.
Today, 32 years later, there’s still a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.''
