Police Arrest Man In Connection With 1973 Cold Case Murders Of Pittsburgh Women In Virginia Beach
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Police have arrested a man in connection with the murders of two teenagers from Pittsburgh at a Virginia Beach oceanfront in 1973.
Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola, both, 19-years-old and 1972 graduates of Penn Hills High School, were vacationing in Virginia Beach back in June of 1973 when their bodies were found in a motel oceanfront cottage.
Now, the NYC Police Department Cold Case Squad, working with detectives from Virginia Beach Police Department, have charged 80-year-old Ernest Broadnax with the murders of the two Penn Hills teenagers.
Sources say Broadnax is being investigated in connection with at least eight other unsolved slayings. The victims were all white women between the ages of 18 and 25, reported missing or killed in the same general area during the same time period.
Pat Trainor is a longtime resident of Whittier Drive in Penn Hills.
The Seethaler family used to live directly across the street from Trainor, and he told KDKA News he can still recall the day 46 years ago when he found out about his neighbor's murder.
"I remember when it happened, they came over to tell us about it," Trainor said. "I was shocked. The girls went away for the weekend, I think, and they were supposed to come home that day."
Ernest Broadnax, 80, is in custody at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center on charges of second degree murder (two counts) and forcible rape. He has declined all media interview requests, @WTKR3, @13NewsNow, @WAVY_News, @virginianpilot and @SouthsideDaily. pic.twitter.com/ZfsVVZBySJ
— VB Sheriff's Office (@VBSO) April 18, 2019
Howard Burton is the veteran Penn Hills Police Chief. He'd been a policeman for only a few years when the murders occurred. Burton also remembered the case.
"I'd been on the job for four years; the two girls were local," Burton said. "It hit the news here big time. They were on vacation and brutally murdered, and possibly sexually assaulted. It was close to home here. It was something that never happened before."