HOMICIDE
Juanita Marie Todd
13 Academy Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Luzerne County
22 years old
September 28, 1972
This post is an overview of the Juanita Todd case, and the first in a series about 1970s NEPA true-crime mysteries. Future posts will go into more detail about this tragic unsolved murder.
Case Overview
One of the most disturbing unsolved homicides in Northeastern Pennsylvania is the 1972 murder of Juanita Marie Todd. Not only was the crime itself horrific, but there are indications the original police investigation may have been mishandled. Even worse, there’s a long-held suspicion this case was intentionally allowed to go cold.
“Some people in this city still believe police had enough evidence to charge a suspect with the murder, but — for whatever the reason — chose not to make an arrest.”
— Steve Corbett, “A Fading Cry for Justice,” The Times Leader, Sept 30, 1993
In September 1972, 22-year-old Juanita Todd was the mother of two daughters, aged 18 months and 5 months. Born in Tallahassee, Juanita moved to Wilkes-Barre with her family when she was 11. She attended G.A.R. High School and later worked for Bell Telephone.
In the time leading up to her death, the young mother had distanced herself from her children’s father and moved into her own apartment on Academy Street in Wilkes-Barre.
A Mysterious Phone Call
Around 3 a.m. on Thursday, September 28, Sgt. Philip Gabriel answered a phone call at the Wilkes-Barre police station. According to the Times Leader, an anonymous man informed Sgt. Gabriel that a homicide had been committed in the 2nd-floor apartment at 13 Academy Street. After sharing that alarming information, the unknown man disconnected the call.
In response, two patrol cars arrived at the predawn Academy Street scene, one after the other. With assistance from the young couple who lived on the first floor, police gained entry to Juanita’s apartment from the rear of the building.
At approximately 3:15 a.m., officers discovered a horrific scene.
The Discovery
In the front bedroom of her apartment, Juanita Todd lay motionless on the floor. She was resting on her side in a thick pool of blood, with multiple stab wounds to her head and body. A white piece of what appeared to be bedsheet was knotted around her neck, and contusions marred the left side of her face and scalp and other parts of her body.
She was unclothed, but there were no obvious signs of sexual assault. The horrifying scene was made even worse by the sight of a knife embedded in her abdomen. A large floor-model fan blew a steady breeze over the young mother, whose life was cruelly cut short.
“Babies Are Only Witnesses“
Juanita’s 18-month-old daughter, Odetta, was found sitting by her mother’s head in the pool of blood. Her 5-month-old daughter, Tamu, was awake in a crib nearby.
Newspaper reports said there were no signs of a struggle in the apartment, but blood was splattered all around the bedroom “reflecting the intensity of the assailant wielding the [sharp] instrument.”
Juanita’s daughters were taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for examination, and in a miracle amidst tragedy, they were found to be healthy and physically unharmed.
Time of Death
Luzerne County Deputy Coroner Walter W. Lisman pronounced Juanita Marie Todd dead at the scene at 4:30 a.m. He reported that at 8:30 a.m., more than five hours after Juanita was found, the temperature outdoors was 50 F.
Juanita was last seen on Tuesday night, September 26. The pathologist estimated that she died at least 15 hours before her 3:15 a.m. discovery on the 28th. Based on that timeline, her death would have occurred on or before noon, Wednesday, September 27. This suggests that both infants remained with their mother’s lifeless body for over 15 hours.
A news article from January 1973 expanded the potential timeframe, indicating Juanita could have passed between 15 to 24 hours before her discovery at 3:15 a.m. It’s unknown what that estimation was based on.
Questions about the time of death
Death investigation experts say it’s impossible to pinpoint an exact time of death without an attending physician on the scene when the death occurs.
However, an unofficial source close to the case suggests that Juanita was likely murdered six to eight hours before she was discovered at 3 a.m.
They base this estimate on techniques that consider factors such as body temperature and the onset of rigor mortis. This could mean Juanita was killed between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, rather than before 12 p.m. that day, marking a considerable shift in the timeline.
Also, some suspect the fan blowing on her body was placed there to try to throw off the time-of-death estimate.
Autopsy Report
The autopsy was performed at the Wyoming Valley Hospital morgue by Dr. William Kashatus, who determined the primary cause of death was a fatal stab wound to the heart. Penetrating punctures around the right side of the chest also contributed to her demise.
In addition to “22 puncture wounds of the head and all over the body,” there were two superficial lacerations: one on her hand, and another marking her face. The hyoid bone, located in the middle front of the neck, was broken — an indication of manual strangulation.
“My mom was tortured and tormented to death.”
— Odetta Todd, as told to Steve Corbett, “Who Killed Juanita Todd, Part 1,” www.theoutloawcorbett.com
Motives and Suspects
“Robbery, jealousy, and vengeance are the three motives responsible for nearly all murders.”
Dr. George Burgeas Magrath, professor of Legal Medicine, medical examiner of Suffolk County,NY.
Juanita’s daughter Odetta shared with journalist Steve Corbett that only three days before her murder, Juanita had arranged a meeting with Magistrate Michael Collins to secure a restraining order against three particular ex-friends. Why she was asking for that restraining order is not known to this writer.
A 1978 news article stated that the murder was possibly drug-related. Or perhaps it was something personal, maybe involving Juanita’s common-law husband. Robbery does not appear to have been a motive. Some of the possible suspects:
- The babies’ father: The man listed on the girls’ birth certificates, who was not involved in raising them, took a lie detector test and passed. Based on that and his interviews with police, he was ruled out as a suspect.
- The Bodyguard: A male friend of Juanita’s, who described himself as her bodyguard, left town the night before he was due to take a police lie detector test. He has long been considered the primary suspect, but information that came to light later casts doubt on his guilt.
- A member or members of a local drug ring: It is rumored that Juanita, who didn’t want drugs in her home, found a valuable quantity of drugs and flushed them. Perhaps her murder was retribution for that.
- A stranger: Police have surmised that Juanita’s killer could have been one of many people from out of town who were in Wilkes-Barre to help with the Agnes flood cleanup.
The police may have other suspects and persons of interest that we just don’t know about.
“We…have not been able to forget the case of the Todd girl who hated drugs and was about to blow the whistle on some limelight person when she was murdered mysteriously, with the murderers being paid off to leave town and never being brought to justice. [T]he Todd girl held life too dear to have hers snuffed out.” — A Black Resident
From an anonymous Letter to the Editor (Citizen’s Voice, Nov 11, 1978). While the suggestions that Juanita was about to “blow the whistle” and “murderers[were] paid off” are considered rumors, this Letter to the Editor shows what people thought about this case, particularly members of Wilkes-Barre’s Black community.
Initial Investigation
The newspaper stated that police were investigating this murder around the clock. This is a summary of the information shared with the media following the murder:
No one reported seeing an individual entering or leaving Juanita’s apartment at the time of the murder. The downstairs neighbors said they hadn’t heard anything amiss from upstairs.
The officer first on the scene, Thomas Bird, told journalist Steve Corbett it appeared someone had washed Juanita’s face after her death. He also said it appeared the babies had been fed and diapers changed.
Det. Bird also told Corbett he found an open loaf of bread on the counter. He said he reached in to touch the bread, and it was still soft and fresh, even though the woman had been dead for at least 15 hours. (Times Leader, Oct. 10, 1993) It seems the murderer either stayed on the scene for a long time after or possibly left and returned to check on the children later.
Police told the family that a hair was found at the scene that didn’t belong to Juanita. (Times Leader, April 30, 2000)
The anonymous call to police was said to have been traced to a phone booth at the nearby Penn Plaza Shopping Center. That was announced three days after the crime.
1973: A Times Leader article published one year after the murder reported that the case was being investigated mainly by Detective Captain John W. Lowe, Detective Bernard Banas, and Detective John Bilecki.
Det. Capt. Lowe told the TL that Wilkes-Barre police were working closely with the State Police Crime Laboratory at the Wyoming Barracks, adding that Trooper William Koscinski was assigned to the case.
Lowe stated that over the year following the murder, four people, including one woman, voluntarily took lie detector tests administered by a Montoursville State Police specialist, and they passed (TL, Jan. 7, 1973). One person refused the test. Nearly 80 people were interviewed.
When asked if he had a suspect or suspects, Lowe answered, “Yes,” but refused to say more.
1974: After a brief mention in the Times Leader in 1974, local news outlets pretty much fell silent about the Juanita Todd case.
That is, until 1978, when a probe was launched into the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department (more about that to come in future posts).
In 2002, Odetta Todd, Juanita’s daughter, was conducting her own investigation into her mother’s murder. She spoke with former Capt. of Detectives John Lowe, who told her a tire iron was found in the sink at Juanita’s apartment. He also said three sets of fingerprints were identified, contrary to news reports that the place had been wiped clean.
What About DNA?
The great news is we’ve heard Wilkes-Barre police are currently reinvestigating this case. As far as is known, this case was last formally looked at in 1994. The hope is that W-B police will revisit all the evidence and send it out for modern DNA testing. They have not disclosed what evidence they have in their possession, citing the confidentiality required in an ongoing murder investigation, but they could have the following:
- The knife
- The piece of bedsheet that was tied around the victim’s neck
- The tire iron found in the sink
- The foreign hair
- Fibers removed from beneath the victim’s fingernails
- A blood-splattered coin found in the home of a possible witness
They should also have fingerprint evidence, interview notes, and polygraph results.
Information Needed
• If you have any information you think might help solve this case, please contact the Wilkes-Barre Police Department at (570) 208-4200.
• You can also send anonymous tips through PA Crime Stoppers (online) or by calling the PA Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. You’ll receive a $5,000 reward if your tip leads to an arrest.
The Juanita Todd Case in the News
Print/Web:
- Who Killed Juanita Todd? Journalist and novelist Steve Corbett’s 14-part online series on the Juanita Todd unsolved murder
- Dateline NBC Cold Case Spotlight: Juanita Todd’s daughter still pushing for justice, 51 years after her 1972 Pennsylvania homicide
- Waiting for answers: After 50 years, unsolved murder still haunts family | The Times Leader
- TV News Coverage:
–Part 1 :Still looking for answers in the 50 year old murder of Juanita Todd | WNEP: The Unsolved
–Part 2: Todd sisters pray for justice | WNEP The Unsolved
Sources:
•”Break Seen in Death of Juanita Todd,” The Times Leader, October 1, 1972
• “City Woman, 22, Found Murdered,” The Times Leader, Sept. 28, 1972
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Sanborn Map Company, Vol. 2, 1934
• “Wilkes-Barre Police Still Investigate Year-Old Murder,” The Times Leader, September 23, 1973
• Steve Corbett, “A Fading Cry for Justice,” The Times Leader, 30 Sept. 1993.
• Steve Corbett, “A Search That Must Not End,” The Times Leader, 10 Oct. 1993.
• Steve Corbett, “Somebody, Do Something, ” The Times Leader, 06 Feb 1994.
• Steve Corbett, “New Evidence in Case Worth a Look,” The Times Leader, 30 Apr 2000.
• TheOutlawCorbett.com/news
• Juanita Todd: Dateline Cold Case Spotlight by Nicolás Viñuela.
