Book studies 36-year-old cold case murder
Thirty-six years ago Sept. 1, Catherine Janet Walsh, 23, took her last breath, strangled in her bed with a bandana as her murderer used her for sexual thrill. Her father found her body facedown with her hands bound, and his wife “became a zombie” in the following decades because of her grief. Both parents died before seeing justice for their daughter.
It was the diligence of a then-25-year-old Monaca detective who stayed on the case the whole time, and the emergence of DNA forensics that ultimately led to the capture of Walsh’s killer. A recently published book, “Justice Delayed,” by Point Park University Journalism Department Chairman and Mt. Lebanon resident Steve Hallock tracks the drama that tore apart a small town in Beaver County.
“This detective, Andrew Gall, was testifying in her case 30 years after the fact that he was the first authority examining the crime scene. I knew this was a story worth further examination,” Hallock said.
A handful of suspects each had plausible motive or circumstance to kill Walsh: an estranged husband, a man holding a secret affair, a brash and crude showoff, a man who danced with her the night of the murder and yet another man carrying out confidential impropriety. They all had ties to Walsh, but Gall and other authorities couldn’t pin the case on any one of them for nearly three decades. The key was finding and extracting DNA from semen found on the nightgown Walsh wore the night she was murdered in 1979.
“The DNA science really became a story in itself,” Hallock said, “because this case went cold. Police had nothing to bring any of these suspects in on. Even though they had suspects failing lie-detector tests and refusing to submit DNA samples, authorities couldn’t act.”
Hallock tracks the evolution of forensic science, and ultimately how the prosecution and defense twisted the findings in the courtroom, revealing that expert testimony is still needed to prop up hard evidence.
“There’s a scene in the courtroom where the defense insists that the location of the DNA should suggest innocence, and the prosecution jumps on it. The jurors saw right through it,” he said.
There are several scenes that demonstrate how detectives surreptitiously obtain DNA – even today – with “gum chewing surveys” and tracking down tossed water bottles. That “surface-level” DNA is then analyzed and the results submitted to a judge for a search warrant so authorities can legally force a suspect to submit a verifiable sample of DNA.
Not only have forensics evolved, but old-fashioned police work has, too, according to Hallock.
“Police detectives used to separate the women and wives out of cases and wouldn’t question them to check if stories checked out. It was done out of some sort of respect for them,” he said.
Not that any female witnesses could tell anything definitive that would help detectives in this case. Friends, family and co-workers were dumbfounded to find out that Walsh was murdered. The one female who stuck with the case blamed police for a lack of effort.
“Emotionally, for me, (the worst was) the scene with (Walsh’s) mother having her hair done and finding out it was the detective’s wife. The hairdresser said it was such a hard time dealing with her. The mother became bitter and never recovered from it. The father, however, didn’t blame police. He called all the time to check in, and when they nailed down a suspect, he said, ‘Come on in. It’s time for pie.'”
The final chapters detail how the defendant took the stand to testify, and a crude joke weighed heavily on jurors.
“When the prosecution asked, ‘Did you ejaculate?’ he said almost in a joking manner, ‘I hope so.’ And that, in itself, isn’t a proof of guilt, but like one of the jurors said and as analysis of many juries has shown, they pay attention to how a person carries themself in court,” Hallock said, “So it’s a 50-50 gamble for the defense: Do they take the stand and self-incriminate, or not, and leave the jurors with that burning question of ‘What’s he trying to hide?'”
The killer who hid it all so well for so many years was Gregory Scott Hopkins, who was in the middle of a divorce and was carrying on a secret relationship with Walsh. He was found guilty in November 2013 of third-degree murder and sentenced to eight to 16 years in prison.
”Justice Delayed: The Catherine Janet Walsh Story” is available on Amazon.com.