Bridgewater councilman arrested in 1979 killing of woman in Monaca
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State police Capt. Byron Locke comforts Peter J. Caltury, father of Catherine Walsh, at a news conference Monday when the arrest was announced. -
Gregory S. Hopkins: arraigned Sunday night -
Catherine Janet Walsh, of Monaca, was 23 when she was found dead in 1979.
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It was around noon on Labor Day in 1979 when Andrew Gall, a 25-year-old patrolman for the Monaca police department, was sent to the home of Catherine Janet Walsh.
Her father, Peter J. Caltury, met him at the Beaver County duplex. Inside, Mrs. Walsh, 23, lay on her bed, wearing her nightgown. She had been strangled, with one of her scarves tied around her neck and her hands bound with rope behind her back.
It was Officer Gall's first homicide, and for 32 years it went unsolved.
"This is the first one, and it was always the one that bothered me," he said. Over the years, Detective Gall, now the assistant chief county detective in the Beaver County district attorney's office, stayed in contact with Mr. Caltury. He kept case reports in his desk and drove his wife crazy puzzling over the case as it grew cold.
PG VIDEOOn Monday, Detective Gall, now 57, stood beside Beaver County District Attorney Anthony J. Berosh as Mr. Berosh announced that Gregory S. Hopkins, 65, had been charged with criminal homicide in the 1979 death of Mrs. Walsh.
Mr. Hopkins, a Bridgewater councilman, was arrested at his home Sunday, more than three decades after the young patrolman arrived at his first homicide.
Mr. Hopkins, the owner of a Beaver County construction and snow removal business, was arraigned Sunday night before District Judge Janet M. Swihart. His preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 6 and he is being held without bond in the Beaver County Jail.
His attorney, James Ross of Ambridge, said in a phone interview Monday that Mr. Hopkins plans to fight the charges "vigorously."
"Mr. Hopkins is a very reputable man in the community, has been in business for 40 years, served on the borough council, and I think this arrest comes as a shock to many people," he said.
Yet for Detective Gall, Mr. Berosh, Mrs. Walsh's family and the many police agencies that contributed to the investigation, the arrest Sunday brought a feeling of conclusion to a frustrating case.
When her parents found Mrs. Walsh's body on Sept. 1, 1979, there was no sign of a struggle, and the doors to the first-floor unit were locked. Mrs. Walsh, who was separated from her husband, lived alone.
According to a criminal complaint released Monday, Mr. Hopkins was interviewed the night Mrs. Walsh's body was found. He told police then that he and Mrs. Walsh were involved in a sexual relationship but that it had ended a month earlier, according to the complaint.
The case floundered for decades. But Detective Gall watched optimistically as technology to trace and identify DNA caught up to their evidence. In 2010, a state police forensic scientist used DNA testing on case evidence, according to the criminal complaint.
The test revealed sperm on Mrs. Walsh's bed sheets, nightgown and the white rope that covered her hands. Using a search warrant, a DNA sample was taken from Mr. Hopkins in December 2011. The match was confirmed this month, according to the complaint.
Questions about motive and why Mr. Hopkins was asked for a DNA sample 32 years after he was first questioned would be left to the trial, Mr. Berosh said Monday.
He credited Sunday's arrest to advances in technology, the decades-long persistence of officers across several police agencies and the determination of the Caltury family to bring the case to a conclusion.
"Nobody ever gave up," Mr. Berosh said.
The primary motivator throughout the case was Mr. Caltury, the father of Mrs. Walsh, he said. Mr. Caltury declined to say anything at the news conference, but his son, Francesco Caltieri, 52, of Columbus, Ohio, said news of the arrest meant the "start of closure" for the family.
Detective Gall said he has long believed that technology will catch up to the evidence collected by good police work, not just for his case but for other unsolved homicides in Beaver County.
"I honestly believe that we are going to solve all of them," he said.
First Published January 31, 2012 12:00 am
