Reposted from Phillyburbs.com:
By Matt Coughlin and Laurie Mason Schroeder
Staff Writers
“Unfortunately, due to the degradation of the evidence, the test results came back inconclusive,” said Matt Weintraub, Bucks County's chief of prosecution. “They couldn't implicate our suspect, or rule our suspect out.”
Like all homicides, the 20-year-old Bristol woman's case will remain open, Weintraub said, but will no longer be an active investigation.
“Personally, I'm disappointed,” he said. “But professionally I'm satisfied that we've done all that we can do to solve this case and bring some finality to it.”
Ritterson was found dead on a Buckingham hillside in June 1977. She had been stabbed and disemboweled.
Numerous people were questioned, but an arrest was never made.
In 2011, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office granted reporters from Calkins Media—The Courier Times and Intelligencer's parent company—unprecedented access to the Ritterson files and evidence. A year of research and interviews led to the award-winning series “The Girl on Church Hill,” published in June 2012.
The reporters' work also spurred investigators to reopen the case. A task force of detectives and other law enforcement officials re-interviewed as many witnesses as they could find, and chased down leads provided by newspaper readers.
Police in both 1977 and 2012 showed interest in Ritterson's uncle, Harry Ritterson. Witnesses described his relationship with his niece as extremely close, and said they often socialized together at bars despite a 20-year age difference.
A reporter interviewed Harry Ritterson at his Easton home last year. He said he knew he'd been blamed for his niece's murder and wanted to clear his name. Ritterson told the reporter that he wanted to speak with investigators and offered to take a DNA test. He then cut off all contact with the reporter.
On Jan. 27, Ritterson died from complications of prostate cancer.
Weintraub on Friday would not call Harry Ritterson a suspect. But court records show that detectives obtained a search warrant for the 77-year-old man's DNA, getting a judge's permission to extract one of his teeth before he was buried.
It was that DNA that was compared to evidence taken from inside and around Shaun Ritterson's body. Weintraub said forensic experts believed from the beginning that the test was a long shot, since the evidence from the victim's body was in poor condition.
“It was stored in plastic, which we now know is a terrible medium for preserving evidence,” Weintraub explained. “Unfortunately, this is a bridge we have to cross with many old, cold cases.”
Despite the mystery not being solved, Weintraub said that he believed the unusual investigation gave detectives the best shot at cracking the case.
“I think it was a creative way to breathe life into a cold case. I give Calkins Media 100 percent of the credit for getting us as far as we did.”
Weintraub broke the news of the inconclusive test to Shaun's family, and told them he shared their disappointment.
“They have handled this with grace and dignity,” he said.
Shaun Ritterson's family said that while the reinvigorated case opened old wounds, they hoped it would bring a conclusion.
"I don't know if there really can ever be any closure — not just for me, but for any parent who has lost a child," Shaun's mother Nancy Ritterson said Friday.
She said at first she didn't want to see a new story on the case, but then, after speaking with reporters, hoped that a new story would move the case forward — that some new information would come out.
"I couldn't believe (it might have been Harry) at first, but as the evidence went on I think so," Nancy Ritterson said. "I definitely think he did it ... I feel bad for his children who have to live with this (being public)."
For more blog posts about the Ritterson case, click here.
Amazing that you post this! I was randomly googling for answers today, having had it pop into my head.
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