VA - Joan Schoppaul, 17, Virginia Beach, 4 Dec 1990

OkieGranny

Retired WS Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
21,516
Reaction score
1,505
9e5efd92-3fcb-4c33-9932-603013ae1672_zps27b753a5.jpg


http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news...police-make-arrest-in-1990-homicide/20583809/

Seventeen-year-old Joan Schoppaul was last seen on the morning of Tuesday, December 4, 1990. She was to return home after visiting a friend. She never arrived. Her worried parents filed a missing persons report.

Within twenty-four hours of leaving home, Joan's body was found on Wednesday, December 5, 1990. She had been wrapped in a blue sleeping bag which had been disposed of in a dumpster behind the former Food Lion Supermarket located at 4740 Baxter Road... The manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Virginia Beach Cold Case detectives used advanced technology and current forensic techniques to further their investigation. They were able to identify a suspect.

http://www.goerie.com/summit-township-man-charged-in-cold-case-homicide-in-virginia

A Summit Township man is in the Erie County Prison without bond today, awaiting extradition to his native Virginia to face charges in a 1990 homicide.

Robert W. Malick, 46, of the 7600 block of Edinboro Road, was taken into custody by the Pennsylvania State Police on Tuesday morning and was arraigned Tuesday afternoon by Harborcreek Township District Judge Mark Krahe on a fugitive from justice warrant on the underlying charge of murder in the second degree.
 
Love to see these cold cases solved!
 
"It's hard because [Malick] had this 24 years to go on with his life, and that's what our children are dealing with as well," Joan Schoppaul said.
The Schoppauls say they know Malick, who was 22 at the time, but they wouldn't share details because of the ongoing investigation.
They did say they never suspected him and, in fact, they believed another neighbor was responsible for their daughter's murder.
http://www.13newsnow.com/story/news...police-make-arrest-in-1990-homicide/20583809/
 
Interview with the accused's wife, December 2014:

You can't do something like that and be this amazing father and husband," she says. "I think there is a mistake. I really do."
Karen met Robert in Erie 10 years ago. They dated, married, had twin boys. But the boys came too early. The first day Robert held his son Connor is the day he died. Nathan lived, but with disabilities. Robert quit work to be Nathan's full-time caretaker.

Karen says her husband appeared in local newspaper stories about their son, raised money for children's charities, and for the past eight years devoted his life to Nathan.
She says police tried to convince her he has a dark side, but she rejects that.

http://wtkr.com/2014/12/23/wife-of-...-that-and-be-this-amazing-father-and-husband/
 
May 2015:

During a preliminary hearing Monday, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Bradley called five witnesses to testify about the forensic evidence that links Malick to the case...

Detective Zebley said talked for 20 minutes and Malick admitted to having sex with Schoppaul the night before she disappeared...

Attorney James Broccoletti, who represents Robert Malick, asked the court to throw out the case because he said his suspect only admitted to having sex with a minor. He also asked the court to note his clients fingerprints were found on the exterior of the bags, but were not found inside the bags. He argued there was an absence of evidence linking his client to the murder.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Bradley responded by saying they had given probable cause in the case. She said Malick’s fingerprints were on two different bags. She also reminded the court of Detective Zebley’s testimony, that Malick initially lied to police, then changed his story.

http://wavy.com/2015/05/04/case-against-suspect-in-1990-cold-case-heads-to-grand-jury/
 
http://wavy.com/2016/06/13/jury-deliberating-verdict-in-robert-malick-trial/

A jury found Robert Malick not guilty in the 1990 murder of Joan Schoppaul on Monday...

Malick’s defense attorney, James Broccoletti, seized on the possibility of another suspect. He claimed Larry Outten, who died in 1996, confessed to the murder on his deathbed.

“When that man went to the grave with a picture of Joan Schoppaul in his wallet, to me, that speaks volumes,” Broccoletti said.

More on that claim:

http://wavy.com/2016/06/09/man-says-brother-confessed-in-1996-to-murder-in-malick-case/

While the jury was out of the courtroom, William Outten testified that his brother, Larry Outten confessed to killing Schoppaul. William said that he jokingly asked Larry if he killed Schoppaul and he said he did, but would not say why or how. Larry died shortly after that, William said.

Larry Outten’s son testified in front of the jury that he recognized the sleeping bag from the crime scene as one he had used before. He said his father would spend time with Schoppaul, who worked as the family’s babysitter.
 
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/...cle_d84efc0c-cdf3-55b7-a0ac-436561afed40.html
[h=1]Man acquitted in Virginia Beach teen's cold case murder asks judge to clear his record[/h]
It’s been a little more than a year since a jury found Robert Malick not guilty in the 1990 killing and rape of a Virginia Beach teenager, but the charges have continued to haunt him.
Whenever he would apply for a job, or attempt to volunteer at his son’s school or for his baseball team, they would pop up on a criminal background check: second-degree murder, rape and sodomy.

“They didn’t see that it was an acquittal,” Malick said. “They just saw the charges.”
On Tuesday, the 49-year-old asked a Circuit Court judge to permanently remove them from his record.

Judge James C. Lewis granted the request over the objection of prosecutors, who argued they were too serious to toss aside.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders,” Malick said. “It’s life-changing.”
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
202
Guests online
1,535
Total visitors
1,737

Forum statistics

Threads
589,168
Messages
17,914,902
Members
227,742
Latest member
Snugglebear
Back
Top