The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and the Beaver County District Attorney's Office announced yesterday, January 30, 2012, the arrest of a Bridgewater councilman who is charged in the 1979 strangling death of Catherine Janet Walsh.
Gregory Scott Hopkins, 65, of 718 Mulberry Street, Bridgewater, was charged with criminal homicide in the death of 23-year-old Catherine Walsh. Hopkins is one of three Republicans elected to the council in 2010.
On the afternoon of September 1, 1979, Catherine’s parents, Peter and Mary Caltury, went to her apartment on Indiana Avenue in Monaca when their daughter had not shown up for work at a refrigeration company that morning. Catherine’s father found his daughter in bed, with a scarf wrapped around her neck and her hands tied with a cord.
The PSP and the Monaca Borough Police Department began investigating, identifying Hopkins as a possible suspect. When questioned by Monaca police after the murder, Hopkins said he had been involved in a consensual sexual relationship with Walsh, but denied having had relations with her for about one month prior to her death.
During the investigation in 1979, numerous items were sent to the PSP Crime Lab. However investigators were unable to generate enough evidence against Hopkins to make an arrest.
In October 2010, evidence from the scene, including Walsh's bed sheets, her nightgown and the cord used to tie her hands, was resubmitted to the PSP Greensburg Regional Crime Laboratory for analysis using methods and technology not available to investigators in 1979.
“The purpose of resubmitting these items was to have the evidence examined using methods and technology that were not available to investigators in 1979,” PSP Commissioner Frank Noonan said. “We are extremely pleased that justice is finally being served for Catherine. It shows the tenacity of the investigators involved and the staff at the PSP Crime Laboratory.”
The results were compared with a DNA swab taken from Hopkins in December 2011, and the DNA lab confirmed in January that Hopkins' DNA matched that taken from the bed sheet, nightgown and rope, the complaint said.
Hopkins was arrested by the PSP on Sunday, January 29, 2012 and before District Judge Janet M. Swihart in Hopewell Township. Hopkins is currently being held at the Beaver County jail.
The Pennsylvania State Police encourage anyone with information on a serious crime or wanted person to call Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at (800) 4PA-TIPS or visit the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers website at www.PACrimeStoppers.org.
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