More than six decades after a nine-year-old girl was raped and murdered in the choir loft of a Catholic church in Pennsylvania, investigators say they have finally identified her killer – a serial rapist whose crimes spanned several states.
William Schrader, an Army veteran dishonorably discharged at the time of the murder, was officially named this week as the man who killed Carol Ann Dougherty inside St. Mark’s Church on October 22, 1962.
Schrader passed away in 2002, but “his name is now definitively linked to the crime that took Carol Ann’s young life,” according to Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn.
Carol Ann’s younger sister Kay Talanca, who is also her only surviving relative, wiped away tears as she spoke about the case at the press conference this week. She also thanked a local reporter and a podcaster for keeping the case alive long after leads ran cold.
“I stand before you with profound sorrow but with such gratitude,” Talanca said. “Because of you my family has the truth it has sought for six decades. Though nothing can bring Carol back, we can finally let her rest in peace, the truth revealed.”
The breakthrough closes one of Bucks County’s most haunting cold cases – a mystery that tormented a community and a grieving family for generations.
A confession and a DNA match
On the day of her murder, Carol Ann was seen riding her bicycle toward the Bristol Borough Free Library, planning to return two books and check out another of her favorite mystery series, according to the district attorney’s office.
She stopped to get a Coke and penny candy at Tommy’s on Farragut Avenue, and then was seen traveling down Lincoln Avenue. The last place she was seen alive was outside St. Mark’s Church. When she didn’t return home for dinner, her parents got worried and went out to look for her. It was her father who made the unthinkable discovery.
Inside the church loft, Carol Ann had been raped and strangled with a ligature.
For decades, investigators suspected Schrader, a 20-year-old man who lived just a block and a half away on Lincoln Avenue and was seen near the church that afternoon.
He failed a polygraph, lied about his alibi, and fled town soon after police questioned him, the district attorney’s office said. But without solid evidence, prosecutors couldn’t make the case.
That changed in 2024, when Schrader’s stepson, Robert LeBlanc, came forward. LeBlanc told authorities that before his death in 2002, Schrader confessed to raping and killing a little girl in Pennsylvania. Schrader said he “had to kill the girl in Bristol to keep her from talking.”
LeBlanc’s account, which included details never made public, proved to be the final piece investigators needed.
A recent DNA analysis of a hair clutched in Carol Ann’s hand matched Schrader. Combined with the confession, eyewitness accounts, and decades of corroborating evidence, a Bucks County grand jury concluded that “the investigation only allows the conclusion” Schrader raped and murdered Carol Ann.
A life of violence
Schrader grew up in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and was violent nearly all his life, according to investigators. Schorn said that as early as age eight, Schrader was known to assault young girls by clubbing them in the face.
For years, he spent time in and out of reform school. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Army, but was dishonorably discharged a year later. A short time later, he was convicted of attempted murder after shooting a man and spent time in Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
After being released from prison, he settled in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where he encountered little Carol Ann.
“Unbeknownst to Carol Ann and unbeknownst to everyone in Bristol Borough, living on Lincoln Avenue was an absolute predator,” Schorn said. “A predator who his prey was little girls. And that was William Schrader.”
After the murder, Schrader fled Pennsylvania and drifted across Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, leaving a trail of violence in his wake. He married in Louisiana but went on to sexually assault his wife’s disabled daughters and two girls the couple fostered, officials said.
On Halloween in 1970, he set fire to his family’s home after threatening to “burn the house down and kill all the b****** inside it,” according to NBC Philadelphia.
One of the foster children, 12-year-old Catherine Smith, died protecting her sister. Schrader was convicted of manslaughter and arson and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He died in 2002 at the age of 62.
“The generational sexual abuse that this man inflicted upon every female child and woman in his life, he didn’t stop until the day he died,” Schorn said.
A long wait for justice
The new grand jury findings, which are detailed in a 53-page report, bring long-awaited closure to a family that never stopped searching for answers.
“For more than six decades, this tragic case has haunted the community and inflicted unimaginable pain on Carol Ann’s family,” Schorn said.
Investigators credited modern forensic testing, the stepson’s testimony, and years of police work for finally solving one of Pennsylvania’s oldest child homicide cases.
“The search for justice that began in 1962 has finally reached its conclusion,” Schorn said.
“We hope this resolution can finally bring a sense of peace to Carol Ann’s family and everyone affected by this tragic crime.”