In 1981, a suspect was arrested, charged and tried in an unsolved murder case from 1977. The result of the trial was that the individual was acquitted.
At the end of March 1977, Mrs. Jennie E. Barr, an elderly widow, was found dead in her den in her home in Tremont, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The cause of death was strangulation and she was also sexually assaulted. Investigators ruled the death a homicide.
This murder was the first of four that occurred in the Lykens Valley area in a less than three-year period between 1977 and 1979 – all of elderly widows.. To this day, none of the four murders have been solved.
The story of the arrest, charging and trial is told here in a 12 part series through articles published in the Pottsville Republican.
From the Pottsville Republican, 2 June 1981:
Harner wept at the scene of murder, witnesses tell
By MATT PURCELL, Staff Writer
William J. Harner, Tremont, accused of murdering elderly widow Jennie E. Barr in her Tremont home in March 1977, visited the victim’s residence shortly after the discovery of her body, and was observed weeping in his mother’s arms in Mrs. Barr’s living room, according to testimony in the first day of his trial Monday.
Harner, 24, of 14 N. Crescent St., is charged with criminal homicide in connection with the slaying of Mrs. Barr, 78, who lived several doors away from him at 20 N. Crescent St. The defendant was arrested by state police on the charge last February.
Among those called on to testify by the commonwealth was District Attorney Richard B. Russell, a Tremont resident, who was among the first law enforcement officials to reach Mrs. Barr’s home after neighbors found her nude body lying on the floor of her den between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on March 31.
Russell said Harner came to the home twice following the discovery of Mrs, Barr’s body. At one point Russell and others observed him weeping while sitting with his mother on a sofa of the living room of the victim’s dwelling, according to testimony.
Mrs. Barr’s body was found after a friend, Mildred Fetterholf, Tremont, became concerned when Mrs. Barr failed to answer her telephone.
Mrs. Fetterolf testified that she and Mrs. Barr usually checked on each other about once a day, and had spoken on the telephone on the evening of March 30. She said when her friend failed to answer her call at about 10 p.m., the following night, she asked the Freezes who live at 16 N. Crescent St., to see if Mrs. Barr was alright.
Mary Freeze and Charles Freeze said they then went together to the Barr residence, entering through the unlocked kitchen door after the doorbell was not answered.
Mrs. Freeze said she called her neighbor’s name, and receiving no response, entered a hallway connecting with the kitchen. The witness said when she looked into the den, she saw Mrs. Barr lying on the floor. Badly upset by the sight, she ran from the home to get help, thinking at first that Mrs. Barr had suffered a heart attack or stroke, she testified.
Her husband said he left seconds afterwards, going to the Harner residence to get help. He returned to the Barr home with Mr. and Mrs. Junior Harner, parents of the defendant, after which Mr. Harner checked for a pulse on the side of Mrs. Barr’s neck, and pulled what appeared to be cloth from the victim’s mouth, Freeze testified.
Mrs. Harner telephoned for an ambulance and covered Mrs. Barr’s body with a nightgown, Freeze said. The lights and television were on in the room, he testified.
Next to arrive was Richard A. Minnig, 123 N. Washington St., Tremont, a former deputy coroner, who reached the Barr home at about 10:35 p.m.
Minnig testified that when he entered the den Mrs. Barr’s body was lying in front of a chair, partially covered with a robe and nightgown.
The victim had blood on her face and there was also blood under her head. Her glasses were broken and wedged against a chair cushion, and her stockings were pulled down around her ankles, he testified.
The witness said his brother, William E. Minnig Jr., a deputy coroner, came shortly thereafter and took over. Richard Minnig said he then went outside and after obtaining from rope from his warehouse, roped off the area with the aid of Junior Harner.
William Minnig testified that his examination revealed that Mrs. Barr had been dead “at least 10 hours, perhaps longer.”
Minnig said that about 1 a.m., after the arrival of police, he saw William Harner in the living room of the home crying with his head on his mother’s lap.
Defense attorney Wallace C. Worth, Allentown, asked Minnig if he was aware of any relationship between Mrs. Barr and the defendant and whether or not she “was like a grandmother” to Harner. The witness responded that he was not aware of what, if any, relationship they had.
Minnig answered affirmatively when asked by Worth if Mrs. Barr’s body was still lying in the den at the time he saw Harner crying and whether “there were other people upset” about the incident.
Worth also questioned how old Harner was at the time of Mrs. Barr’s death, and Minnig responded, “18 or 19.”
Tremont Police Chief Elmer S. Cutler was the first police office to reach the Barr home. He said he first went to the residence of Dr. J. Phillip Robinson, Tremont, whose wife is the ambulance dispatcher for the borough, to find out the nature of the incident, which had not been broadcast. The chief then followed Dr. Robinson’s auto to the Barr home, where he said the doctor went immediately to the den to examine the body.
Cutler said he too saw Harner crying “quite badly” on the sofa with his mother. The chief said sometime after this he exchanged words with Harner to the effect that “this is terrible.”
Harner also said, “I wish you would have arrested me last night,” Cutler testified, and when the chief asked him what he meant by this statement, the defendant responded, “then I wouldn’t have to know about this.” Cutler noted that he had talked to Harper at about 9:30 p.m. the previous night while Harner was a passenger in an auto in Tremont.
Russell arrived after Cutler, and called the state police, asking them to take charge of the crime scene, When troopers reached the home, it was decided to close off the den until a lab team could survey the crime scene, he said.
Harner came to the kitchen door after 1 a.m., asking if his mother was in the house and if he could go see her, the district attorney said.
Russell said he pointed Harner in the direction of the living room at the front of the house, where Mrs. Harner was, and Harner took “one step” in that direction and then “three or four steps” towards the hallway, which connects to the den and other rooms. The district attorney said he grabbed Harner by the shoulder and again directed him to the living room, where the defendant then went.
“Three to five minutes” later, Russell said, he heard a “loud, shrill wailing, crying” coming from the living room. Upon entering the room, Russell said he saw Mrs. Harner with her arms around her son. When he asked what was wrong, Mrs. Harner said, “He liked Jennie so much,” and the defendant said, “Yes, she was such a nice lady,” Russell testified.
The district attorney added that in light of Harner’s condition he directed he be taken from the home. He said he also asked state police Cpl. John Mazak to get a statement from Harner to learn why he had reacted so strongly to Mrs. Barr’s death.
After Mazak returned from questioning Harner 10 to 15 minutes later, Russell said he suggested that they conduct a search of the cellar of the home for evidence.
Harner then returned to the home, and since he appeared to have become calmer, was permitted to enter, Russell said.
At this point, the district attorney said, he and Mazak began to descend tto the cellar,m and Russell noticed a broom or mop handle set on an “odd angle” on the cellar steps landing.
Russell remarked on this to Mazak, and suddenly Harner “pushed right down between us, until Russell told him to “get out of here,” the district attorney testified.
Worth, saying there were “a lot of people” at the Harner home at this point, questioned if Russell was certain it was Harner who came to the landing.
“Absolutely, without any question,” Russell answered.
Worth then asked why the district attorney did not have Harner arrested. “I know what probable cause is,” the district attorney responded.
Previously, a check on all the second floor rooms had been conducted with the aid of Mrs. Harner, who was somewhat familiar with the —-, and “everything seemed to be entirely proper,” Russell said. Also, all the first-floor windows were discovered to be locked, said the district attorney, who having appeared as a witness in the trial, is ineligible to try the case himself.
The death penalty is not in effect for the case, as the murder took place while capital punishment was not in effect in Pennsylvania.
In addition to Worth, attorney C. Palmer Dolbin, Pottsville, is acting as counsel for Harner.
The commonwealth, represented by assistant district attorneys Thomas J. Nickels and Maryann Conway, was to continue its case today. Judge Joseph F. McCloskey is presiding over the trial.
____________________________________
For all other parts of this story, see: A Trial & An Acquittal, 1981.
For all parts of the story of the murder, see: Who Killed Jennie E. Barr?
News clipping/article from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.