Yeah that's one of the major questions- what was she doing in Bensalem?
Bensalem is in Bucks County, which is northeast of Philadelphia and known primarily for being upper middle class. So I was puzzled how this distinctly working class northeast Philly girl ended up in fancytime Bucks County. Then I looked at where the Publicker Distillery was on google maps, and it's nestled right in an isolated, southwest corner of Bucks County, far from the gated neighborhoods.
The distillery itself is actually in the middle of an industrial area. When she disappeared, the distiillery had been out of business for several years and was where kids went to party. There was criminal activity there as well. Most sources you find online will mentioned abandoned stolen cars.
It
is accessible via public transit, I was surprised to see. There are Septa (Philly's transit) stops up and down State Rd, where the distillery grounds are/were. From what friends of mine who've lived here many years have told me, that route was in service in the mid-80's.
So was she driven or did she take transit? Hard to say. She was 7 months pregnant, I don't know how to factor that in either way.
It would have been easy for her to get there on her own. I know she lived at Church and Frankford, which would have put her
directly beneath the elevated subway line (the el) which runs directly towards Bensalem. It was only a few stops north to Frankford Transportation Center, from where Lisa could have picked up the bus to Bensalem.
As a girl who grew up under the el, I'm guessing she would have had very good knowledge of transit and how to get virtually anywhere.
I live in West Philly now, but for a long time I lived in the northeast, just five subway stops south of the intersection she grew up. I might have posted this earlier in the thread, but I remember how that neighborhood treated their young women. It wasn't unusual at all to see very young teen girls with large bellies. I got the sense it was a culture that didn't really value their young women. It made me sad.
Five years after moving out of the northeast, I read about Lisa's identification. I know I posted this earlier: I almost have a mind to head up to Frankford and start asking questions I shouldn't be asking in certain bars I shouldn't be going to. But I don't want to get stabbed. And I don't want to compromise the case. I'll let the pros handle it. But I think about the case often enough. When I'm feeling chatty I even come to Websleuths and type interminable posts about it.
