On 20 January 1978, the body of the 80-year-old widow Mildred Wilson was discovered in her home by a neighbor. Police began immediately investigating the death as a possible homicide. By 27 January 1978, strangulation was ruled the cause of death.
Wilson’s home was located on Union Street, Millersburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, just two blocks from the junction of Routes 25 and Route 209. and about three blocks from the office of the Upper Dauphin Sentinel, also on Union Street. Route 25 is the road to/from Gratz and is named Johnson Street on the above map. Route 209 is the road to/from Elizabethville and Lykens and is named on the map as State Street – which merges with Union Street at about the point where the Upper Dauphin Sentinel office is located- noted on the map as Everyday Blessings Gift Shoppe.
This was the second murder committed in the Lykens Valley area in what would eventually become four murders committed within a three year period. Although all appeared to be committed in a similar manner involving many similar circumstances, none were solved.
What follows here is a “Table of Contents” for 5 posts chronicling the story of the murder and the trial as reported in some area newspapers. Neither the Upper Dauphin Sentinel nor the Harrisburg newspapers were consulted for this post, because they were yet available on line. If any reader can provide scanned copies of newspaper articles which can provide additional information about this murder, they can be transcribed and posted on this blog.
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Death of Woman Under investigation
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Obituary of Mildred Wilson
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Police Release Few Details in Murder Probe
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No Clues in Woman’s Death
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Strangulation Ruled Cause of Death
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Mildred Wilson was 80 when she was murdered.
News clippings are from Newspapers.com. Map cut from GoogleMaps.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.