Carol Ann Dougherty is shown in a family photo taken at a 1961 wedding reception.
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn holds a press conference at the Bucks County Justice Center, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, releasing the details of a grand jury report alleging William Schrader was the man who raped and murdered 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church in Bristol Borough in 1962.

Carol Ann Dougherty was on her way to meet friends at the library in her small Pennsylvania hometown on an October day in 1962. The 9-year-old never made it there.

She stopped, apparently to say a short prayer at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church, parking her bicycle outside. When she didn't return home for dinner, her parents began searching for her.

Her father, spotting her bike, went into the church, and discovered her battered, partially-clothed body in the choir loft.

Her murder would remain unsolved for 63 years.

On Oct. 29, the district attorney in Bucks County, Pennsylvania announced that the identity of Carol Ann Dougherty's killer was finally known, according to the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn released a grand jury report alleging William Schrader raped and strangled Carol in the choir loft at St. Mark Roman Catholic Church on Oct. 22, 1962. She was described as a happy, devout child who loved reading.

Schrader died of a heart attack at 64 in July 2002.

“Although the case went unsolved for decades, that was not for lack of effort, dedication or commitment for pursuing the truth,” Schorn said. "We believe it may be the only rape and murder of a little girl in a church in the United States.”

Schrader was one of a few suspects in the case, but passed a polygraph test and then left abruptly for Florida. In 1970, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison in Louisiana for arson and killing a 12-year-old girl.

Carol Ann Dougherty's case, still unsolved, fell from the public's consciousness until a 1992 Bucks County Courier Times series, "Murder in a Choir Loft," prompted a reexamination of the evidence, with Schrader as the focus of the renewed investigation.

He was extradited to Pennsylvania for questioning and when he was compelled to testify before a grand jury, Schrader invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked about Carol Ann Dougherty's murder. He was not charged and sent back to Louisiana.

A man who'd met Schrader in prison during the 1960s told his parole officer that Schrader told him shortly before he died that he'd "committed the perfect murder," and that he'd "raped the girl on the altar" before killing her to keep her from talking. Robert LeBlanc's parole officer told Bucks County authorities, and LeBlanc, who has since died, confirmed the information to investigators in 2024.

In 2024, DNA evidence was retested, submitted to a Texas lab that specialized in cold cases, the Bucks County DA said.

“This case has haunted the Bristol Borough community for years,” Bristol Borough Police Chief Joe Moors said. “(Investigators') pursuit of the truth and teamwork finally delivered answers for Carol’s family and our community ... Their pursuit of the truth finally delivered."

"Our family lived without answers and the uncertainty surrounding Carol's death became a part of who we were," her sister, Kay Dougherty Talanca said, according to 6ABC News.

"After so many decades of unknowing, this finding finally brings closure and truth to a wound that never healed."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Horrific 'Murder in a Choir Loft' cold case now solved, investigators say

Reporting by Phaedra Trethan and JD Mullane, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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