76-Year-Old Man Admits In Court To Killing Wife, Dumping Body In Delaware River Nearly 40 Years Ago
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Nearly 40 years after a Bucks County woman's disappearance, her family is finally getting justice done. William Korzon, 76, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of his wife, Gloria Korzon. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half to 15 years in prison.
It was very emotional inside the Bucks County Courthouse on Wednesday morning. Korzon was handcuffed and dressed in a yellow inmate jumpsuit. He says he killed his wife nearly four decades ago, only after she tried killing him by firing shots at him and missing.
Korzon says he took the 9 mm gun from his 37-year-old wife and fired back, striking her in the head.
He says he then stuffed her body into a 55-gallon plastic trash can, took it to the Delaware River and dumped it there. The body was never found.
Korzon says he later sold the gun.
Gloria Korzon vanished in 1981 and was formally declared dead in 1997.
Prosecutors say William Korzon spent decades forging documents and lying in court to cover up the crime. Warrington Township police and Bucks County detectives revived the cold case to be put in front of a grand jury.
"This guilty plea in this case encourages police everywhere to take a fresh look at their own cold cases, for we will bring them," Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said. "This is a great day for law enforcement and for justice. This resolution today gives us all hope in all unsolved cases, especially homicides."
Her family says William Korzon lied to them for nearly 40 years and that lying to the police finally caught up with him.
"You killed her and threw her away like garbage in a watery grave," Jennifer Potter, Gloria Korzon's niece, said. "We always knew you did it, Bill. We never believed your lies."
Korzon was charged with his wife's murder in April.
