Lykens Valley: History & Genealogy
  • Home
  • About
  • Categories
    • Commerce
    • Communications
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Farming
    • Genealogy
    • Government
    • Labor
    • Memories
    • Military
    • Mining
    • Organizations
    • Religion
    • Resources
    • Sports
    • Transportation
  • Civil War Blog
  • PA Historian
  • Contact

The Murder of Helen Horn in Gratz – An Unsolved Crime from 1979

On 22 March 1979, Helen E. Horn, a widow, returned home from an evening meeting of the Gratz Historical Society, where she was the treasurer and had just collected money for an upcoming bus trip for the group. Within minutes of entering her house in Gratz, she was on her dining room floor – naked and dead in a pool of blood.  The next morning, her cleaning lady discovered the body.  The coroner, the autopsy, and the investigation supported that she was murdered.

Although a Gratz man, Gary W. Rank, age 18, was charged with her murder, at trial he was acquitted.  The prosecution never established a motive and the only “real” evidence presented were dubious fingerprints. Later, Rank’s innocence was further supported by a law suit he filed in Federal court claiming that his civil rights had been violated and that the evidence presented against him had been falsified by the state police  The jury ruled in his favor and three of the murder investigators from the state police were forced to pay both compensatory and punitive damages.

A few years following his exoneration, Gary W. Rank was killed in a vehicular accident.

There is no known record that the state police ever investigated any further leads in this case.  If the murder was not committed by the original suspect who was tried and acquitted, then it is possible that the real murderer is still alive and at large!.

What follows here is a “Table of Contents” for 19 posts chronicling the story of the murder and the trial as reported in a Pottsville newspaper.

__________________________________________

Obituary of Helen E. Horn

Who Killed Helen Horn? (1)

_________________________________

Widow’s Death Suspicious

Who Killed Helen Horn? (2)

__________________________________

Gratz Shaken By Woman’s Brutal Murder

Who Killed Helen Horn? (3)

_________________________________

Intense Murder Investigation Continues

Who Killed Helen Horn (4)

________________________________

Suspect Arrested in Gratz Murder

Who Killed Helen Horn? (5)

_________________________________

Gratz Murder Suspect Described as a Dropout and Fair Worker

Who Killed Helen Horn? (6)

_________________________________

Gratz Murder Suspect Bound Over For Trial

Who Killed Helen Horn? (7)

_____________________________________

Murder Trial to Start

Who Killed Helen Horn? (8)

_______________________________________

Rank Trial Jury Selection Starts

Who Killed Helen Horn? (9)

____________________________________

Gratz Man on Trial for Woman’s Murder

Who Killed Helen Horn? (10)

______________________________________

Focus Put on Fingerprints

Who Killed Helen Horn? (11)

_______________________________________

Print Identification Challenged

Who Killed Helen Horn? (12)

_____________________________________

Rank Admits Touching Cellar Window

Who Killed Helen Horn? (13)

__________________________________

Rank Acquitted

Who Killed Helen Horn? (14)

_______________________________________

Claiming He Was Framed, Gratz Man Sues Police

Who Killed Helen Horn? (15)

______________________________________

Gratz Man Awarded $55,000 in Damages

Who Killed Helen Horn? (16)

____________________________________

Crime Record Ordered Cleared

Who Killed Helen Horn? (17)

________________________________________

2 Die in Head-On Accident

Who Killed Helen Horn? (18)

____________________________________

Obituary of Gary W. Rank

Who Killed Helen Horn? (19)

_____________________________________

Photo of Helen E. Horn from Gratz Sesquicentennial Book, 1955, taken when she served as the treasurer of the Gratz Bicentennial Committee, at about age 44.  She was 68 when she was murdered.

News clippings are from Newspapers.com.

Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Gratz
October 10, 2018 Norman Gasbarro

Post navigation

Millersburg High School Yearbook Staff, 1951 → ← Roscoe E. Blyer (1892-1948) – Gratz Manufacturer

Email notification of new posts

Places

Ashland Bear Gap Berrysburg Dalmatia Elizabethville Erdman Fisherville Gordon Gratz Halifax Halifax Township Hegins Hegins Township Herndon Hubley Township Jackson Township Killinger Klingerstown Lenkerville Loyalton Lykens Lykens Township Matamoras Mifflin Township Millersburg Muir Orwin Pillow Pine Grove Porter Township Reinerton Sacramento Shamokin Specktown Spring Glen Tower City Tremont Upper Paxton Township Valley View Washington Township Wayne Township Wiconisco Wiconisco Township Williamstown Williams Township

Categories

  • Commerce
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Farming
  • Genealogy
  • Government
  • Labor
  • Memories
  • Military
  • Mining
  • Organizations
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • Sports
  • Transportation
  • Unidentified

Categories

  • Commerce
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Farming
  • Genealogy
  • Government
  • Labor
  • Memories
  • Military
  • Mining
  • Organizations
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • Sports
  • Transportation
  • Unidentified

RSS Feeds

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Copyright 2016-2024, Norman Gasbarro, Philadelphia, PA

Site Created by Brian Tomlin

Archives

Powered by WordPress | theme Layout Builder
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d