Cold case of 9-year-old girl raped and murdered in church choir loft finally solved after 60 years
On October 22, 1962, the victim stopped at Bristol's St. Mark's Catholic Church to pray while riding her bike to the library to return a pair of books. Her father discovered the fifth-grader dead from beatings
A cold case that had baffled investigators and plagued the victim's family since 1962 was finally solved this week when a serial rapist was found to be the monster who raped and killed a 9-year-old girl in the choir loft of a Pennsylvania Catholic church.
William Schrader, who resided next to the church and had been dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army, was 20 years old when he killed ittle Carol Ann Dougherty. Even though he was long thought to be the main suspect in Carol Ann's death, officials never had enough proof to convict him.
On October 22, 1962, Dougherty stopped at Bristol's St. Mark's Catholic Church to pray while riding her bike to the library to return a pair of books. Her father discovered the fifth-grader dead from beatings.
“I stand before you with profound sorrow but with such gratitude,” said Dougherty’s only surviving relative, younger sister Kay Talanca, at a Wednesday press conference. “Because of you my family has the truth it has sought for six decades. Though nothing can bring Carol back, we can finally let her rest in peace, the truth revealed.”
Talanca expressed gratitude to a podcaster and a local reporter for continuing to raise awareness of the matter. Investigators stated that a year ago, Schrader's stepson, Robert LeBlanc, provided the proof they needed to link Schrader to the crime.
LeBlanc called authorities in the fall of 2024 after Schrader confessed to the horrible murder in a discussion with him prior to his death in a Louisiana jail in 2002 at the age of 62. Schrader stated that he killed a girl in Pennsylvania because he was afraid that if he allowed her to survive, she would denounce him for the rape.
According to Bucks County District Attorney Jen Schorn, the case was concluded as a result of eyewitness testimony, Schrader's confession, and a recent DNA match on a hair found in Carol Ann's clenched hand.
After being shown the evidence, a grand jury agreed that Schrader had raped and killed Carol Ann, saying that "the investigation only allows the conclusion."
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“While Schrader passed away in 2002, his name is now definitively linked to the crime that took Carol Ann’s young life, a conclusion reached through the combination of decades-old evidence and recent investigative developments,” said Schorn.
Three people were the first focus of the detectives' murder investigation: Wayne Roach, Frank Zuchero, and Rev. Joseph Sabadish, the pastor of St. Mark's. These men were ultimately exonerated by means of proven alibis.
Schrader relocated to Louisiana and married after the Dougherty murder, but he later sexually assaulted his wife's disabled daughters and two foster girls.