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.
The story of the discovery of the body through the revelation of the autopsy results, investigation and settlement of her estate is told through 12 brief stories that appeared in area newspapers.
Although a suspect was charged and brought to trial in 1981, he was quickly acquitted. As with the other three murders, this homicide remains unsolved.
Note: The 1981 trial will be featured in another series of posts.
From a local Pine Grove Press-Herald, 7 April 1977:
MRS. GUY L. BARR
Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon from the W. E. Minnig Funeral Home, Tremont, for Mrs. Jennie E. Barr, 78, of 20 N. Crescent St., Tremont with the Rev. Andrew Stauffer, her pastor, and the Rev. James D. Ingles, pastor of St. John’s Episcopal, Palmerton, officiating. Interment was in St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery, Tremont.
Mrs. Barr was found dead Thursday night in her home by neighbors. An autopsy revealed death was due to strangulation and state police and local police are continuing their investigation of the homicide. She was the widow of Dr. Guy L. Barr who died in 1964.
A native and lifelong resident of Tremont, she was a daughter of the late Joseph Barr and Ellen Newton Frymore. Active in many civic organizations, she had just completed a telephone campaign in preparation for the Red Cross bloodmobile visit.
She was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church and Lutheran Church Women, Tremont; a member and past president of Tremont Woman’s Club; a member and past president of Tremont American Legion Post and treasurer for many years; a member of Tremont Ambulance Association and Tremont Senior Citizens.
She is survived by a son David Barr of Utica, New York; two daughters, Marilyn Ord, wife of James Ord of Palmerton; Ruth Seip, wife of Robert Seip of Sulphur, Oklahoma; six grandchildren.
Pallbearers were James Ord, Peter Ord, John Baum, Dalton Schaadt, Arthur Marvin and Adam Gorczyca.
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For all other parts of this story, see: Who Killed Jennie E. Barr?
News clipping/article from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.