On 22 March 1979, Helen E. Horn, a widow, returned home from an evening meeting of the Gratz Historical Society. Within minutes of entering her house, she was on her dining room floor – naked and dead in a pool of blood. Although someone was charged with her murder, at trial, he was acquitted. The crime was never solved.
This post is one of 19 chronicling the discovery of the body, the arrest and trial of the suspect, and his acquittal. The story is told through articles that appeared in a Pottsville newspaper.
From the Pottsville Republican, 30 August 1986:
Gary W. Rank
Gary W. Rank, 25, Halifax area, was fatally injured in an auto accident on Route 325, Dauphin County, on Friday.
He was a member of Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Lykens. He was employed by Stanley Spring Co.
Surviving are his wife, Teresa D. Rank, his father William L.Rank, of Gratz, his mother, Nancy J. Rank, Halifax; paternal grandmother, Mildred Matter, Millersburg; maternal grandmother, Minnie M. Knoeder, Trevorton; a brother, Larry W. Rank, Halifax; a sister, Rose M. Ney, Millersburg.
Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Our Lady Help of Christians Church by the Rev. Bernard P. McGinley. Interment will be in St. James Independent Cemetery, Carsonville. Hoover Funeral Home, Elizabethville, is in charge of arrangements.
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For all other parts of this story, see: Who Killed Helen Horn?
News clipping/article from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.