This is only my second post on this forum, so I'm still a "newbie." This case has always stayed in the back of my mind, partly because my Mom was in the area at the time of Christy's discovery, and partly because of another death in our area that occured around the same time. (solved but the killer is still fighting to get free) On the day that Christy's body was found, the police were diverting traffic so that they could bring the body out and not be interrupted. My Mom ended up having to wait (in her car) on the side of the road facing Christy's house. At that time, a man in a dark sedan was parked next to her. Mom considers herself to be a little psychic, and she said she got an overwhelming aura of anger from this man as he stared at Christy's house. In her head she kept hearing "good, the is dead" over and over again. Then the man pulled out of his spot and went in the opposite direction. She swears it was the killer, and still gets freaked out about it. Everything I've ever heard about Christy is that she was sweet and kind, never a "." I got this story from another site, so I hope it works.
A mother's dying wish
By Barbara Hough Roda
Dec 14, 2002, 18:53 EST
Lancaster Sunday News
Knowing she might not live to see the 10th anniversary of her daughter's unsolved killing, Gerry Mirack asked for an interview to tell her story of the pain of losing her "Chrissy' and her fear that justice will never be done.
Gerry Mirack was sick and weary when she got word to the Sunday News this summer that she wanted to talk.
Battling cancer, grief and the clock, she feared that she would die before the 10th anniversary of her daughter's unsolved murder. Mrs. Mirack wanted to leave this life knowing that she would have a say in a December article about her middle child, about the devastating loss to her family, about frustration with a murder investigation that has failed to produce a killer.
She did not want Christy Mirack, the daughter taken from her family four days before Christmas, to be forgotten.
"It's too late now ... I feel it's too late for me because of how sick I am," Mrs. Mirack said in a shaky and tired voice.
But on that day in September, as she glanced at her two surviving children during an interview at daughter Alicia's Philadelphia-area home, she added, "My kids are still here ... It's such a long time, 10 years."
Less than two months later, on Nov. 4, Mrs. Mirack, 59, died at her Shamokin home. Death came one day after Christy would have celebrated her 35th birthday.
Mrs. Mirack was a Catholic, a member of Our Lady of Hope Church in Coal Township, Northumberland County. There was daunting comfort in the belief that Christy, and truth about the murder, awaited her in death.
The terrible call
It was Mrs. Mirack who got the call from Christy's principal that her daughter hadn't arrived at Rohrerstown Elementary School the morning of Monday, Dec. 21, 1992. Did Christy visit Shamokin that weekend, the principal asked?
She had not, and a worried Mrs. Mirack started calling Christy's East Lampeter Township townhouse. Her daughter never answered but, after three hours, someone with the police did _ the family does not know to this day who that was _ and told Mrs. Mirack she needed to come to Lancaster.
The man would say no more. Mrs. Mirack persisted, as concern gave way to a mother's worst fears. There was an "accident," she was told. Christy was dead.
The sixth-grade teacher's strangled, beaten and sexually assaulted body was found by the Rohrerstown principal, who had driven to her Greenfield Estates home to check on her. It was one year and one day after Laurie Show was murdered in the same township.
According to a 1995 Lancaster New Era story citing police, neighbors saw a car pull into a lot directly across from Christy's home shortly after her roommate left for work at 7 a.m. A man jumped out of the car and headed toward her door. Police theorized at the time that Christy either knew the man, or opened the door expecting to see someone else, when he forced his way inside. No one saw the man leave.
Witnesses described the vehicle as a 1984 to 1991 Dodge Daytona or Turismo hatchback, the article noted. It was faded silver, dull gray or faded white in color. The vehicle's distinguishing features included roll-up head lamps and black louvers, or sunshades, on the back window. Police described the man as white, in his 20s, tall with an athletic build and sandy blond or light brown hair, possibly in a crew cut.
It appeared that Christy had put up a struggle. A 1993 Sunday News story citing unnamed sources close to the investigation noted that Christmas packages, bags and cushions had been thrown about; there was a slash in a sofa slipcover, though no furniture was overturned. There was a shoe scuff mark inside, on the top of the front door; scrapes on the entryway floor suggested that Christy might have been dragged, sources said. Her elbows and knees were badly bruised.
Previously published reports noted that a neighbor heard a single scream at 7:15 a.m. The killer left the townhouse with the door ajar, which allowed the principal to enter when he arrived looking for Christy shortly after 9 a.m.
Knew her killer
East Lampeter Township Police Lt. Renee Schuler, who heads the murder investigation, said the car and other information linked early on to the case are not being discounted.
But she and Lancaster County Detective Joseph Geesey provided little in the way of new information at an interview held at the District Attorney's Office last week. Although police initially proceeded under the assumption that Christy knew her killer, they won't rule out a random killing now.
But the family is convinced that Christy either knew the murderer, or opened the door to someone she was expecting that morning. There were no signs of forced entry to the townhouse, according to news reports.
Gathering to discuss Christy and the case in September was extraordinarily difficult for a family that has mourned with no closure for a decade. They've watched Christy's life be subjected to the microscope while the killer continues to elude police. Their heartwrenching loss was evidenced on the fatigued face of an ailing Mrs. Mirack, who sat close to her son, Vince T., on a sofa and looked to him, her daughter and husband, Vincent J., for support as she spoke.
The Miracks said Christy was adamant about safety, though they can't explain why she was so careful. Her father offered typical parental advice: keep the keys ready, take different routes home, don't park in the same place.
Recalling his years as a Lancaster nursing student, her brother, now 31, said he always rang the doorbell when he stopped by Christy's home and had to tell her several times who it was before she would let him in.
But last week Schuler and Geesey would only say that the killer is male. They wouldn't say whether there might have been more than one assailant. Dozens of men have been interviewed by authorities, though officials will not say specifically how many. Investigators said they are looking at specific individuals.
They would not comment on how many people have been exonerated by DNA or other evidence.
But three men who were considered suspects by police were absolved because DNA taken from semen did not match DNA found at the scene, county foresnic pathologist Dr. Wayne K. Ross said in a 1993 interview with the Lancaster New Era.
