Bucks County DA Solves 1962 Carol Ann Dougherty Church Murder

The decades-old cold case of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty's 1962 murder in Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania, has been solved, according to Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn. The grand jury report concluded that William Schrader, who died in 2002 and had a history of sexual violence against pre-adolescent girls, raped and strangled Carol in the choir loft of St. Mark Roman Catholic Church. Schrader was initially questioned but not pursued as a primary suspect, while other leads, including a parish priest, were investigated over the years. The case was re-examined recently with forensic hair evidence and confessions to a friend playing a crucial role in the resolution. Carol had been biking to the library but stopped at the church, where the crime occurred, and her body was discovered by her father. The announcement was made during a press conference with law enforcement officials, marking the closure of one of Pennsylvania's oldest cold cases.