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Bensalem Police Arrest 2 In 31-Year-Old Murder Case

By Walt Hunter

BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) -- For Barbara Rowan, at last, there is justice.

Thirty-one years after searchers found the 14-year-old raped and murdered, her parents now told two suspects are charged in the killing of their only child.

 

Barbara Rowan
(credit: Bensalem Police Department)

 

Police say accused killer George Shaw, allegedly high on Meth, invited the victim to babysit his young daughter in August, 1984, drugging, assaulting and murdering her, even as her desperate father knocked on the door, demanding to know if she was there.

Rowan's body was found 13 days later, a short distance from her home.

 

Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran says Shaw was a potential suspect from the beginning, but it took years of unrelenting investigation by a team, led by detective Chris McMullin before alleged accomplice Robert Sanders, implicated him in interviews and grand jury testimony.

Sanders, who allegedly helped Shaw dispose of Rowan's body, is charged with obstructing and hindering the prosecution and apprehension of a criminal.

Police now say just 2 months after Shaw killed Rowan, he struck again, convicted of breaking into the home of a 69-year-old widow in Montgomery County and raping her on the very night a TV report about Rowan's murder was broadcast.

Harran says he's convinced Shaw is responsible for numerous additional crimes and he asks anyone with information about him to contact detectives.

Police say Shaw, who fought with police during his arrest, is now in custody in Florida, awaiting extradition.

Sanders will be brought from upstate Pennsylvania to face charges here next week.

 

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