Elsie Mae Schoffstall, a 62-year-old-widow living with her bed-ridden mother in Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, was found dead on her living room floor on the morning of 1 November 1979. The police investigation and autopsy concluded that she had a head wound and multiple scull fractures – and had been strangled and sexually assaulted. There was no evidence of robbery.
This was the fourth such murder in the Lykens Valley area in a three-year period, the first occurring in early April 1977 in Tremont, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. In the four investigations, a similar pattern emerged: (1) All four victims were elderly widows. (2) All four victims were beaten about the head and strangled. (3) All four victims were found naked or partially naked and sexually assaulted. (4) Robbery or burglary was not found to be a motive. (5) In two of the four crimes, an alleged perpetrator was arrested and brought to trial – but acquitted. (6) None of the crimes were solved.
This post is one of 9 chronicling the discovery of the Mrs. Schoffstall’s body and the police investigation. The story is told through articles that appeared in a Pottsville newspaper.
From the Pottsville Republican, 2 November 1979:
Slain Lykens widow assault victim – Police swarm into probe
By DALLAS DELUZIO, Staff Writer
LYKENS – Elsie Mae Schoffstall would have been at a local bingo party Thursday night.
She would have probably asked a relative to care for her 97-year-old, bedridden mother while she enjoyed her only form of recreation in recent years, according to a neighbor.
But Mrs. Schoffstall, 62, of 768 Main Street, was not at bingo Thursday.
Her brother Arthur Deiter of Lykens found her body lying on the living room floor of her two-story, wood frame home at about 7 a.m. Thursday.
Suffocation, head trauma, assault
The office of Dauphin County Coroner Dr. William Bush, who completed an autopsy this morning, said cause of death was attributed to suffocation, multiple head trauma and sexual assault. Earlier, Dr. Bush had said examination of Mrs. Schoffstall’s body indicated she suffered a “traumatic death.”
Mrs. Schoffstall was pronounced dead at her residence by Dauphin County Deputy Coroner Kerry Pae, according to authorities.
State police Thursday listed her death as “suspicious” and put her home off limits to everyone except investigators. Up to 15 state police troopers were busy late Thursday night interviewing neighbors.
But lips were sealed – of authorities and relatives – concerning details on the manner of her death.
In charge of the investigation are Lt. Herman Faiola, head of criminal investigation, Troop H, Dauphin County, Harrisburg, and Rich Lewis, assistant district attorney of Dauphin County.
Death: midnight – 3 a.m.
According to Faiola, the coroner’s office said death apparently had occurred sometime between midnight and 3 a.m.
Otherwise, Faiola this morning said he did not know the means of entry into the Schoffstall home and would not speculate on what the motive, such as robbery, might have been.
Neighbors described Mrs. Schoffstall as very friendly, “a real nice person.”
A native of Lykens, Mrs. Schoffstall “would have done anything for anybody,” said a neighbor who lives across the street.
Mrs. Schoffstall “was not nosy” but spoke to everyone she met, the neighbor said as she stared across the street at the Schoffstall home in disbelief.
“It makes you so mad. If you could’ve heard something, you could have gone to help,” the neighbor said.
Her son, Marlin Schoffstall Jr. of Lykens, could not figure out why anyone would have harmed her. He said she had no valuables in the house.
Doors usually unlocked
The lock on the front door was broken so when she went to bed, which was early if she had no company, she tied a rope from the inside of the storm door to the inside of the front, wooden door, he said.
Other doors in the house had locks but she never locked them, he said.
At the rear of the house is a yard with no light. Behind the yard is a garage and an open pathway to an unlighted alley. On the other side are three cemeteries, also unlighted, and behind the burial ground is a densely covered mountainside.
However, a dusk-to-dawn light is located at the foot of the steps leading to the porch and front door on the street side.
Officer Randy Lynn of the Lykens borough police, who are not involved in the investigation, said that a check of records of recent months shows no complaints from the area of Mrs. Schoffstall’s homes of burglaries, robberies or prowlers.
Time devoted to mother
Mrs. Schoffstall spent most of her time since her husband Marlin died three or four years ago caring for her mother and babysitting for some of her grandchildren.
She had gone to church regularly until caring for her mother, Daisey Paulus, took most of her time, her pastor said.
Mrs. Schoffstall pitched in wherever she could to help the community. She worked at concession stands, made candy apples and helped out with the Little Tigers football team, the neighbor said.
“She was a fine person, a good mother and a good grandmother,” said one of her other neighbors, attorney Patrick Kerwin.
Mrs. Paulus, according to Marlin Schoffstall, was taken by ambulance to Harrisburg Osteopathic Hospital after her daughter’s body was found.
But she hasn’t been told about her death, said Marlin.
In addition to her son Marlin Deiter, brother Arthur Deiter and her mother, she is survived by daughters Mrs. Helen Gonder of Berrysburg, Mrs. Alice Sweigard of Harrisburg, Mrs. Joyce Durham of Duncannon and Mrs. Linda Crabb of Lykens; another son, David Schoffstall of Halifax; brothers Gordon Dietrich of Lykens, Harvey Dietrich of Mechanicsburg, William Dietrich of Coudersport, Lawrence Dietrich of Long Island, New York, Donald Dietrich of Lebanon, and Woodrow Dietrich of Carsonville; a sister, Mrs. Susan Bohner of Lykens; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Funeral arrangements through the John M. Schulz Funeral Home, Lykens, are incomplete.
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For all other parts of this story, see: Who Killed Elsie Mae Schoffstall?
News clipping/article from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.