A photograph taken in January 2007, of the home of Elaine Pierson, of Perry County, Pennsylvania, who was reported as missing by her friends. The photo appeared in the Carlisle Sentinel, January 4, 2007.
In early January, 2007, the community of Gratz, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was rocked by the arrest of Rochelle Laudenslager, who was raised there and had graduated from Upper Dauphin Area High School in the 1970s. She was charged with the first-degree murder of Elaine Pierson, whose body was found in a ditch in Perry County. The murder weapon was found hidden in the attic of Laudenslager’s mother’s house in Gratz. Prosecutors sought the death penalty because evidence showed that Pierson was subjected to torture in the process of being killed by Laudenslager. The story that came out over time was that Laudenslager and Pierson were former lovers and that Laudenslager was trying to get back together with Pierson, but Pierson was already in a relationship with another woman.
In a nine-part series of blog posts, the story of the murder, the investigation, the charges, and the eventual sentencing is told as it appeared in the pages of the Carlisle Sentinel. Because of the pain caused to Pierson’s many friends and neighbors as well as the recency of the crime, their names have been omitted from the story.
At the present time, Rochelle Laudenslager has served about half of the minimum of her 30 to 60 year sentence in state prison.
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Part 1 – Elaine Marie Pearson is Missing.
From the Carlisle Sentinel, January 3, 2007:
POLICE SAY MARYSVILLE WOMAN STILL MISSING
State police continue to comb state game lands for a Marysville woman who friends and family reported missing on Friday.
Elaine Marie Pierson, 48, was last seen Wednesday evening and enjoyed hiking in the woods near her Rye Township home, where she lives by herself, says Corporal Simon Wellman of state police at Newport.
Police used “aviation resources” to look for Pierson over the weekend and have search dogs available if they need them, Wellman says.
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From the Carlisle Sentinel, January 4, 2007:
COMMUNITY SEARCHES FOR MISSING WOMAN
Police are baffled by the Perry County woman’s disappearance
By Tatliana Zamowski, Sentinel Reporter
The search continued today for a Perry County woman who has been missing for about a week.
On Wednesday, volunteer firefighters, neighbors and friends of Elaine Marie Pierson, 48, joined authorities in combing the woods around her rural Rye Township home for clues about her disappearance.
Mack Hoover, a volunteer firefighter in Newport, took a half day off work Wednesday.
“This is something I’d want people to do for me,” he said. “It’s close to home to us.”
His brother, Troy Hoover, is trained in search and rescue techniques with bloodhounds. Although searchers have not used trained dogs, he helped lead the search.
Police used helicopters to look in the woods on Sunday, two days after Pierson’s friends and family reported her missing. That’s how … a neighbor who was out of town when Pierson disappeared, found out something was wrong.
“Our dogs used to hang out,” he said of his yellow Lab, Lucky, and Pierson’s German shepherd, Radcliffe. Strachan and his dog volunteered with the search team Wednesday morning.
About 50 searchers in the morning and at least 25 in the afternoon fanned out through the woods to look for footprints, clothing or disturbed leaves. Officials from the state Game Commission, Department of Forestry and state police led the volunteers.
If they find something, they use tags to mark it, and then police officers look at the area, Mack Hoover said. “Sometimes it leads to nothing, but you never know.”
Wednesday’s search yielded nothing, but police interviewed Pierson’s friends and family for information about her habits that may give clues about her disappearance.
Police said they hadn’t ruled out anything in the investigation — including foul play, suicide or amnesia. Pierson’s family and friends last heard from her on December 27.
They gathered Wednesday at the Rye Township building, the staging area for searchers. But the people who knew hear well declined to comment about the woman who neighbors called friendly and active.
One neighbor said Wednesday that she often saw Pierson running with her dog.
“She was an outdoor person,” said [a friend]. She doubts Pierson would have left her home without Radcliffe, who is friendly to people he knows, but no pushover to those he doesn’t.
“He had a loud bark,” and didn’t like [my] aging Newfoundland, [she] said.
Police said Radcliffe was in the house by himself, and that Pierson’s cell phone, glasses and keys were untouched in the house. Her two vehicles were also in the garage.
“That’s just another clue that has baffled us a little,” said state police spokeswoman Jackie Capriotti.
Pierson’s home was unlocked, but that wasn’t unusual for her, Capriotti said.
Police are investigating as evidence the last phone conversation she had before she disappeared, and Capriotti wouldn’t comment on it since it’s part of the investigation.
After Pierson’s friends passed out fliers announcing her disappearance and seeking information, neighbors searched the rural properties themselves before the organized search Wednesday, [the friend] said.
[She] said she and Pierson would let each other know when they were going to be out of town.
“I’d like to think that we were watching out for each other,” she said. “But how good were we?”
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From the Carlisle Sentinel, January 5, 2007:
STATUS OF INVESTIGATION TO BE DETERMINED TODAY
By Tatliana Zamowski, Sentinel Reporter
State police plan to decided today whether to continue investigating Elaine Marie Pierson‘s disappearance as a missing person case or focus on a more in-depth investigation after a two-day search turned up nothing.
“It hinges on what the investigators tell us,” said Sgt. Charles Ringer of the state police at Newport this morning. Investigating officers and police who oversaw the search of the Perry County woods around Pierson’s home planned to “put our hears together” today and share information, including whether foul play was involved.
Police may call a press conference today to announce their decision.
“Every day we learn more and more” about the Rye Township woman who vanished last week, Ringer said.
Friends and family last heard from the Rye Township woman, who lives alone, on December 27. They reported her missing on December 29.
Police said they haven’t ruled out anything in the investigation — including foul play, suicide or amnesia. Police said Pierson’s German shepherd was in the house alone and her cell phone, glasses and keys were untouched. Her two vehicles were also in the garage.
Police said earlier they are investigating as evidence Pierson’s final phone call, and wouldn’t release details about it.
Community Support
On Thursday, the second day of the search, the Perry County community was in high gear when it came to supporting the search.
Kathleen Miller, Rye Township deputy management coordinator, bought 100 hot dogs and brought in a cake, soda and snacks for about 50 searchers who combed the hillside surrounding Pierson’s Trout Lane home.
“I can’t go out, and everybody’s been so terrific,” Miller said as she served up food for the workers at lunch time.
Roher Bus Comp[any donated a school bus and a driver to transport searchers from the township building to the woods, said Kim Shrauder, a company maintenance worker who was drafted to drive the bus.
“I was carpenter this morning” at the Duncannon office, he said, brushing the dust off his coveralls. Around 9:30 a.m., “They just called me up and said, “Kim, we need you to go.”
On Wednesday, the first day of the search, a local woman who wished to remain anonymous made a surprise donation of eight cheese pizzas to the workers.
“The pizza guy came in and said, “I have eight pizzas.” And I said, “We didn’t order them,” Miller said.
The Rye Township Lion’s Club also donated 60 sandwiches.
We’re very community minded out here, and we do what we can,” she said.
Jim Cassidy, township emergency management coordinator, said searchers covered more than 1,000 acres during the two days, but turned up nothing significant.
Authorities, including state police and officials from the state Game Commission and Department of Forestry, are satisfied with the effort and won’t continue searching for Pierson today, he said.
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From the Carlisle Sentinel, January 6, 2007:
POLICE: NOTHING RULED OUT IN CASE OF MISSING WOMAN
They emphasize that no evidence of foul play has been found yet
By Tatliana Zamoski, Sentinel Reporter
Police took evidence from Elaine Marie Pierson‘s Perry County house after she vanished, but don’t have enough clues to classify her disappearance as a crime.
Still, “the possibility of foul play has not been eliminated,” Jackie Capriotti, spokeswoman for state police, Troop H, said at a press conference Friday. Pierson’s case is still classified as a missing persons case because police “don’t have any hard facts” to suggest otherwise, Capriotti said.
Suicide is also still a possibility, she added.
“We still have a lot of interviews to do; we have a lot of evidence to process,” Capriotti said.
Cell Phone Call a Mystery
One piece of evidence police are investigating is a cell phone call Pierson made at 8:15 p. m. Wednesday, December 27 [2006], the last time friends or family heard from her. Police are interviewing the other person but won’t release information about the conversation.
A friend reported the 49-year old woman missing December 29 after going to her house and not finding her there , Capriotti said.
Police did a forensic investigation at Pierson’s home and searched her property on Tuesday.
Securing Evidence
Perry County District Attorney Chad Chernot said authorities have to treat Pierson’s home as a crime scene in order to secure evidence.
“If it’s out there, we need to get it now,” he said. “We’re treating this as if it’s a criminal offense, hoping it’s not.”
Authorities urge anyone who saw or heard anything to come forward.
“Anything anybody has seen may be the key that opens up the whole case,” Chernot said.
Police have conducted several interviews with family members and close friends about Pierson’s habits. “At this time, everyone has been cooperating with us.”
Pierson is listed in a missing persons database and Perry County Crimestoppers have offered up to a $2,000 reward for information that leads to finding her….
Capriotti said about 80 searchers found “numerous discarded household items” during a two-day search of the Rye Township hillside near Pierson’s house but don’t believe any of them are related to her disappearance.
The friends and family members who helped search for her seemed frustrated that the search yielded nothing, said Jim Cassidy, Rye Township emergency management coordinator, adding, “I think there’s still hope that she’s alive and well somewhere.”
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News articles and photo obtained through Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.