Police have finally arrested the suspect in the 35-year-old cold case in which a Pennsylvania woman was repeatedly stabbed and bludgeoned to death.
The Lehigh County District Attorney said this week that authorities are investigating the death of Michael Breisch, 65, in Ohio after new technology linked his DNA to evidence left at the 1989 murder scene of Rose Nass, 78. announced that he had been arrested.
When she failed to show up for church on January 21, 1989, Hunas’ relatives visited her widowed home where she lived alone to check on her.
Her nephew entered the home and found the widow “stabbed and beaten in the living room,” Detective Robert Devers said. told 69 News.
Investigators said the house was ransacked and dismembered, leaving behind a knife believed to have been used in the murder. Hunas also had defensive wounds indicating he had resisted his attacker.
However, the case remained unsolved for more than 30 years, although those involved never stopped trying to find Hans’s killer.
Lehigh County Prosecutor Gavin Hourihan said in a news conference recorded Thursday on location that new DNA technology, which was not available at the time of the killing, ultimately led to the breakthrough.
“We are at the end of a long investigation that, while it has cooled down, has never been forgotten or set aside,” Pennsylvania prosecutors said in a statement.
Holihan said Blaisch, who was 30 years old at the time of the murder, lived in a community correctional facility near Allentown and did not appear to have known the alleged victim. The district attorney did not release information about his criminal history or why he was living in a correctional facility.
The murder suspect had recently relocated to Wind Gap, Ohio, where law enforcement officers worked with Pennsylvania authorities to arrest him.
He has since been extradited to the state and is being held in the Lehigh County Jail without bail, Holihan said.
“Murder is not given a free pass,” the prosecutor said. “The case remains, the detective’s memory remains, and the case file remains.”
Bleisch is charged with murder, robbery, burglary and aggravated assault inflicting serious bodily injury.
Meanwhile, Funas’ living family members expressed relief and gratitude after being informed of his arrest, Holihan said.
“In our current office, we don’t forget that these are families who lost someone. No matter how long ago it was, they’re still going to continue the case,” he added. Ta.
