Human remains found 51 years ago were recently identified as 14 year old Ruth Brenneman from York, Pa.
Ruth Elizabeth Brenneman was a young female known for her long blonde hair and outgoing personality. Ruth attended high school at the time, and was just shy of her 15th birthday. One morning Ruth left her home to go to school and never returned.
At first, family and police figured Ruth had gone to a friend’s house after school, and forgot to notify her parents. Unfortunately, her family and police would later discover that she was not at a friend’s house, and there was no further information of her whereabouts.
A few months after Ruth had gone missing, two game wardens found a body under a tarp near Tomstown Road. With an unidentified body in the morgue, Police tried releasing a bust that was recreated on the remains, but no one came forward. Over the years, police found no leads on this case, and it eventually went cold.
In October of this year, Trooper Keck identified the Jane Doe of 1973 as Ruth Brenneman. The reason this case took so long to close was because investigators were unable to identify the body they found in the woods 51 years ago. Because Ruth had been dead for a while, identification techniques in 1973 could not identify her.
“Their work has provided us with some closure on questions that have lingered for the past 51 years.” Referring to the police officers, says Ruth’s family. Although Ruth Brenneman’s family got some closure, it was hard for her family to relive her going missing all those years ago.
