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, 26 March 1979:
Gratz shaken by woman’s brutal murder
By SUE BOOKS, Staff Writer
GRATZ – This quiet, rural community has been severely shaken by the brutal murder of an elderly widow in her home Thursday night.
The body of Mrs. Helen E. Horn, 68, was found about 7:30 Friday morning by her cleaning woman in her home at 343 Market Street.
According to the death certificate, she died of strangulation and multiple scull fractures.
“It was definitely a murder,” said Sgt. Joseph A. VanNort of the state police at Harrisburg. State police troop H, Troopers Strausser and Holtz are handling the investigation with Sgt. VanNort.
The cleaning woman, Mary Hepler, does not wish to discuss the condition in which she found the body.
“I want people to remember her as she was – not as I found her. She was a fine woman, an asset to the community,” she said.
After Mrs. Hepler found the body, she contacted an [sic] funeral director, who then contacted the coroner.
An autopsy was performed Friday by Dr. Him Kwee, a pathologist at Harrisburg Hospital.
Crime occurred on her return from a meeting.
The last person to have seen Mrs. Horn alive was her best friend and neighbor, Ruth Stiely. Mrs. Horn picked up her friend Thursday night ad took her to an historical society meeting at the municipal building in their neighborhood.
The meeting ended between 9:30 and 10 p.m. Mrs. Horn was killed at about 10 p.m., police said. Her body was found the next morning lying on the floor in her dining room, near a table. A cellar door window was broken.
Mrs. Horn was treasurer of the historical group and left Thursday night with $90 collected from the group for a trip.
Police will not say whether the money was stolen.
Police are trying to determine whether Mrs. Horn came straight home from the meeting. Mrs. Horn drove Mrs. Stiely to her home and gave no indication that she planned to go anywhere else before she went home, said her friend.
The friends kept in close touch. They telephoned each other daily and made a point of letting each other know when they went out.
Mrs. Horn was never afraid of living alone, however, Mrs. Stiely said.
She was very active in the community, said Mrs. Rothermel, a neighbor.
“She was there when she was needed,” said Mrs. Bixler, another neighbor,” and was connected with everything,” said Mrs. Stiely.
Mrs. Horn and her husband, a doctor, moved to the area 30 to 35 years ago and has lived there ever since Mr. Horn died about 15 years ago.
The rural, very close-knit community has been shaken badly by the killing. It has struck a tone of fear in many people, particularly elderly women living alone, said John Novinzer [sic], council president of Mrs. Horn’s church, Simeon United Lutheran Church in Gratz.
Many of the elderly in the community are not afraid of going home alone at night, he said. The horrible death will affect their lives for quite a while, he said.
“There are so many widows around this town. It really scares you,” said Rita Phillips, a neighbor.
“The more you start to figure, the less you know,” said Mrs. Stiely.
The area is almost crime free, Mr. Novinger said.
Another elderly woman was brutally murdered in Tremont on March 30, 1977. The victim was Jeane E. Barr, 78, a dentist’s widow, who was a friend of Mrs. Horn’s. Also Mildred Wilson, 78, of Millersburg, was found beaten to death in her home in January, 1978. Their murderers were never found. Police have not determined that any of the killings are related.
The borough has no local police protection. State police from the Lykens substation come through the area, but the station is 30 minutes away, Novinger said.
Mayor Robert Rothermel, a neighbor of Mrs. Horn’s, said he hopes residents will favor increasing taxes to hire a local patrolman.
____________________________________
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.