A half-century after her partial skeletal remains were found under a plastic tarp in a wooded area of northern Lebanon County, state police from Reading-based Troop L finally have a name for the blond teen whose body was interred in a nearby cemetery under the name Jane Doe.
In a press conference Thursday at the Lebanon County Department of Emergency Services, investigators provided the name of the girl whose manner of death has yet to be determined but is considered suspicious. She was Ruth Brenneman, 14, who lived with her family 47 miles away in York County and was last seen at the end of the 1972-73 school year.
Ruthie, as she was called by her family, was known for her long blond hair and was listed as a missing person. Investigators were vague about when and how she was reported missing, citing the ongoing investigation into her death. They conceded, however, that law enforcement officials at the time, lacking the benefits of the internet and DNA technology, never made the connection between the missing blond-haired white teen and the remains with similar descriptors in Lebanon County, an hour’s drive away.
On Oct. 10, 1973, a state game warden investigating deer poaching in Union Township, Lebanon County, smelled what he thought was a rotting deer carcass.
Game officials tracked the odor to a wooded area off Moonshine Road, not far from where Interstate 81 splits off Interstate 78 near Fort Indiantown Gap.
State police investigated but could not determine how she died or who she was, though the death was suspicious because the unclothed body was covered with a green tarp with brush piled on top.
Investigators estimate the victim, a white female 16 to 20 years old, died weeks before her body was discovered.
They thought she might have been one of four runaways from a home for wayward girls that operated in nearby Jonestown.
Over the years, attempts to identify her using the best forensic science had to offer failed to identify Jane Doe.
About 10 years ago investigators unveiled a bust of what the victim may have looked like about the time she died, but it led only to dead-ends.
In February 2016, Lt. Nathan Trate, then the Troop L criminal investigations section supervisor, released a 3-D rendering done with the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
In 2015, as DNA technology advanced, Troop L investigators had the remains exhumed from her grave in Mount Lebanon Cemetery.
The bones were carefully unearthed by Dr. Frederick Snow, a forensic anthropologist from Tennessee and a renowned expert in forensic exhumations. Bone samples were sent to a Texas laboratory for DNA extraction.
Investigators declined to answer questions specific to the investigation. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trooper Ian Keck, the most recent lead investigator, said forensic scientists in October identified the remains using forensic genealogy analysis.
He said he was thankful for advances in DNA technology, especially forensic genealogy, which draws on public DNA databases to match unknown DNA profiles to identified family trees.
The identification clears a big hurdle that stymied the investigation for 51 years, Keck said.
Identifying the victim is a crucial step in a death investigation because it allows police to learn about the victim via family and associates, he said. Ruthie’s family long ago legally declared her deceased, even though the whereabouts of her remains were unknown.
Sgt. Joshua Lacey, Troop L criminal investigations supervisor, read a brief statement on behalf of her family. It read:
“The family wishes to extend our gratitude to Trooper Keck and the others on the Pennsylvania State Police team who worked diligently to identify Ruthie. Their work has provided us with some closure on questions that have lingered for the past 51 years.”
Keck said many investigators, including his predecessor, Trate, share the credit.
He expressed mixed emotions with identifying the victim.
“You know that you’re able to help a family identify their loved one that they’ve been missing for several years,” he said, “but on the other hand … I know there’s another part of this investigation and it’s not over yet, so we need to keep going. This is just one hump we got over, being able to identify her.”
Ruth Brenneman was born Nov. 26, 1958. Her body was found about six weeks shy of her 15th birthday. If she were alive today, she would be 65.
Investigators asked anyone who knew Ruth Brenneman or has information about her to contact state police at 717-865-5067. Information can also be submitted, anonymous if preferred, via PSP Tips at 800-472-8477 or [email protected].
