MD MD - Ruth Thorp, 21, Strangled, Elkridge, 14 Apr 1982

[BrownBear]

Homicide of Ruth Naomi Thorp, April 14, 1982

Ruth Naomi Thorp, 21, of Glen Burnie was found strangled at a hotel on U.S. 1 in Elkridge on April 14, 1982. She checked in with a man that investigators believe was a known acquaintance.

Thorp, whose maiden name was DiDomenico and grew up in Catonsville, lived in Glen Burnie at the time of her death. She was survived by her husband and their young daughter and still has family in the Catonsville area.

Police released a composite sketch of a suspect (below). He was described as a white male, 22-24 years old, five feet seven inches to five feet ten inches tall, with a slender build, light brown hair, last seen wearing blue jeans with a large, multicolored patch on the right leg and a waist-length, light blue jacket. He may have been driving a two-door American-made vehicle with white or gold pinstripes on the sides.

Cold Cases | Howard County

 

[BrownBear]

Information from an article on page 7 of The Evening Sun on April 17th, 1982.

• She was on probation after pleading guilty to possession with the intent to sell PCP.
• Her husband was in a minimum-security facility, serving time on a narcotics conviction.

 

[BrownBear]

Zufall, who has worked Thorp's case since 2019, identified Albert Jacob Hartje, Jr. as a suspect in her murder.

Hartje, who died in 2021, is also suspected in the murder of Laney Lee McGadney, who was found dead in Columbia a few weeks earlier in March 1982.

"If he was alive today, we would be arresting him and charging him with the murders of not only Laney Lee McGadney, but also of Ruth Thorp as well," Zufall said.

(...)

Investigators believe Hartje did not act alone in both cases.

"We've gone through all the evidence in the Ruth Thorp case, and there still is physical evidence that is involved in Ruth Thorp's murder that does not come back to Albert Hartje Jr. So there is one more person that's out there that we believe is complicit in this murder," Zufall said.

Police are now seeking help from anyone who may have worked with Hartje or seen him in social circles to help match evidence with the right person, as Thorp's surviving family still awaits full closure.

Police believe late suspect did not act alone in young mother's 1982 Elkridge murder