Family Secret Solves 63-year-old Church Murder of Young Girl

For more than 60 years, the murder of 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty haunted the quiet town of Bristol, Pennsylvania — a place where people once left their doors unlocked and children rode bikes until dark. Now, thanks to a shocking family confession, investigators say they finally know the name of her killer.

District Attorney Jennifer Schorn confirmed that a Bucks County grand jury identified William Schrader, a local factory worker, as the man who raped and strangled young Carol Ann inside St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church on October 22, 1962. Schrader died in 2002, but the new report — more than half a century in the making — leaves little doubt about his guilt.

“For more than six decades, this tragic case has haunted the community and inflicted unimaginable pain on Carol Ann’s family,” Schorn said. “The case was never forgotten — and today, we can finally give this little girl her justice.”

It was a mild autumn afternoon when Carol Ann left home on her bicycle. She had stopped for candy and a soda before heading to the local library. She never came back. Her father later found her body inside St. Mark’s, less than two blocks from their home.

The coroner determined she had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a ligature — a detail so brutal that detectives at the time described the crime as “beyond comprehension.”

At first, police questioned multiple men, including local residents and even a priest. But the case soon went cold — despite early suspicion of Schrader, who had failed a polygraph and lied about his alibi. Within days, he vanished from town.

“After police talked to him, he packed up and disappeared,” said one retired officer. “We always thought he knew more than he said.”

Schrader fled Pennsylvania, drifting from Florida to Texas before settling in Houma, Louisiana. There, he built a new life — and a dark history.

According to the grand jury, Schrader’s stepson, Robert Leblanc, came forward in November 2024, telling investigators that Schrader had privately confessed to killing a young girl in a Pennsylvania church.

“He said he had to kill the girl to keep her from talking,” Leblanc revealed. “I didn’t know what he meant at the time. I thought he was drunk — until I saw her photo years later.”

Investigators were stunned. Leblanc’s story contained details never made public, leading prosecutors to call his account “highly credible.”

The confession reopened a forensic trail that included hair clutched in Carol Ann’s hand. In 1993, tests found “significant similarities” between that hair and Schrader’s sample — evidence that now, paired with Leblanc’s revelation, closed the loop.

Schrader’s record painted the portrait of a serial predator hiding in plain sight.

According to the report, he sexually abused nearly every young girl he lived with — including his own daughter and granddaughters — and was convicted in Louisiana for the 1985 death of 12-year-old Catherine Smith after setting fire to his home.

Dr. Veronique Valliere, a forensic psychologist who testified before the grand jury, described him as “a psychopath who derived pleasure from preying on children.”

“He was impulsive, arrogant, and drawn to risk,” Valliere said. “Offenders like this often brag — and that arrogance is what ultimately exposed him.”

At a press conference in Doylestown, Carol Ann’s sister, Kay Dougherty Talanca, wept as she addressed reporters.

“Our family lived without answers for more than 60 years,” she said softly. “Now we finally have the truth. Maybe Carol Ann can rest — and maybe we can, too.”

Outside the courthouse, longtime residents gathered to leave flowers beneath a statue of St. Mark, the same church where the crime unfolded.

“This case has haunted this town forever,” said Bristol Borough Police Chief Joe Moors. “Now we can say we never gave up. Justice finally caught up with him — even if it took a lifetime.”

Though Schrader never faced a courtroom, officials say the case’s resolution is final. “This is as definitive as it gets,” Schorn said. “We know who killed Carol Ann Dougherty. And now the truth is on record for good.”

In the end, it wasn’t new DNA that solved one of Pennsylvania’s oldest unsolved murders — it was a guilty man’s conscience and a family member’s courage to finally tell the truth.

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Source: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, USA Today Network, 6ABC News, Fox News