PA - Laura Ronning, 24, raped & murdered, Wayne County, 27 July 1991

[Sleuthster]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PA_1991_SEX_KILLING_FLOL-?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME

St Petersburg Times 7-31-09

HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) -- A Virginia man has been charged with killing a camp counselor who was sexually assaulted and shot once in the head while on a hike in the Poconos 18 years ago, authorities said Friday.
Jeffrey J. Plishka, 46, of Onley, Va., was arrested in the 1991 murder of Laura Ronning, a 24-year-old from St. Petersburg, Fla., said Wayne County District Attorney Michael Lehutsky.
Ronning was working at Camp Cayuga near Honesdale when she disappeared on July 27, 1991, while taking a walk to Tanner's Falls, a nearby waterfall. Her partially clad body was discovered the next morning.
Authorities became suspicious of Plishka shortly after Ronning's body was found, but it was not until an interview earlier this year that investigators were confident enough to make an arrest, Lehutsky said.

 

[Sleuthster]

Updated Story

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/article1023808.ece

Very interesting,they do not have alot of actual evidence it will be interesting to see how the trial goes.

 

[OkieGranny]

From August 2010:

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/ronning-s-mother-casts-doubt-on-gun-s-place-in-prosecution-1.977365

Laura Lynne Ronning's mother believes Wayne County District Attorney Michael Lehutsky missed the opportunity to secure justice for her daughter, with the prosecution's case damaged by introduction of a sketchy piece of evidence once regarded as the murder weapon...

That gun was a rifle seized from acquitted suspect Jeffrey James Plishka's residence in 1992. He was found not guilty on all three murder counts on Tuesday...

During closing arguments, Mr. Lehutsky again conceded "ballistics would not establish" the rifle killed Ms. Ronning and DNA evidence would prove to be "inconclusive." His prosecution of Mr. Plishka, he argued at the end of the trial, was instead an "old school" case involving circumstantial evidence requiring a jury to bring together a range of circumstances - mainly statements made by the accused - to make a decision.