“The Girl on Church Hill”

(This cold case from 1977 has grown legs over the last 39 years. Recently, I was asked to render an opinion on the possibility of outlaw motorcycle-gang members having committed the crime?)

So let’s take a look. Play along with me and form your own opinion.

Lot of meat here. Too much for one post. So it may take three or four posts to dole everything out in palatable bites.

Today, we’ll examine the discovery of the body and the results of the autopsy.)

Discovery of the Body

June 12, 1977

A clear, sunny day, temperature in the 70s.

Shorty after one o’clock in the afternoon, George Childs and his son Mark were driving along Holicong Road in Buckingham Township. Bucks County, PA. Wooded area. Looking for a stream that ran along the base of Church Hill. That’s when George spotted a body at the bottom of a sharp ravine and summoned police.

Police officers, detectives, and medical examiners soon responded to the scene. They found the body of a female, nude, face down, arms tucked against her body, vegetation matted in her hair, lying on top of patch of weathered leaves. Obviously dead.

Two beer cans and bag that once contained sunflower seeds lay in close proximity to the body.

No blood in sight. No weapons in sight.

While detectives and coroners started processing the scene, police officers started canvassing the surroundings. Farmland, an abandoned quarry, houses here and there. Knocking on doors, speaking to everyone encountered, trying to determine if anyone saw or heard anything suspicious during the overnight.

After taking measurements and snapping several pictures, investigators rolled the body over. Face down to face up. Shocking turn of events.

This wasn’t just a murder. The victim was split wide open from neck to crotch. No internal organs remained.

Coroners transported the body to Doylestown Hospital.

The Autopsy

Hal Fillinger – that’s Dr. Halbert Fillinger to outsiders – performed the autopsy the next day. Everyone in the Greater Philadelphia homicide community knew Fillinger. The best at what he did. And he’d been brought in from the outside to perform this procedure.

He followed the usual protocol:

• Body of well-developed, well-nourished white female.
• Shoulder length frizzy brown hair.
• Ears pierced.
• Silver polish on fingernails.
• Age somewhere between 21 and 25.
• 5-feet-5 and 130 pounds.
• Head normal size.
• Eyes brown.
• Only article on body: 10-carat, yellow-gold ring with “LOVE” in block letters and small diamond chip mounted inside “O.”
• Several ant bites covering body.
• Marks on buttocks consistent with being dragged across the ground.
• Hemorrhages on cheeks and around eyes.
• Discoloration across upper chest.
• Multiple stab wounds to chest.
• Turkish towel stuffed into abdominal cavity to absorb any seepage of blood during transportation of body to dump site.
• Internal organs eviscerated with surgeon’s precision.

Toxicology tests later determined mild intoxication at time of death.

Hal Fillinger saved the most gruesome hypothesis until the end: The victim may have been alive when the killer disemboweled her.

(Tomorrow, we’ll identify the victim and start looking for suspects.)

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com – Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Birth of the Birds
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen
• Soon-to-be-published novel Stosh Wadzinski
• Soon-to-be-published novel Polish Widow
• Work-in-Progress A Fuckin All-American