The case: Schlappig, a 14-year-old Northwest Junior High School student, was carrying the magazine and the dish full of pot pie before 10 p.m. on Jan. 6, 1953, from the home of her foster father, Louis Sauber, in the 600 block of North Front Street to the home of her foster sister, Norma Snyder, in the 100 block of West Windsor Street. About 2:30 a.m. the next morning, members of her foster family, who had been looking for her for hours, found Schlappig’s body in a trash can behind a house in the 800 block of McKnight Street. Her jacket was found in a yard nearby. The bandanna was found beneath her body. The broken dish and the magazine were found in an alley between the 100 blocks of West Douglass and West Windsor streets. Investigators determined she had been raped and strangled. Conclusion: Never solved. Years later, police believed two men who talked in prison about grabbing girls off the street and raping them may have been responsible. Both died more than 20 years ago. A fellow prisoner who claimed to have heard a confession in prison regarding the murder refused to cooperate.
The scarf found beneath the body of Dorothy Schlappig, who was raped and murdered in Reading in 1953 when she was 14 years old. The case wasn’t solved.
Shoes, a magazine and other evidence from the unsolved rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in January 1953 in Reading.
Reading Times 3/9/1967
In 1967 another Reading girl was found dead in Leesport PA. When the Reading Times published the photo of Christine Wise an annonymous caller directed the Times to "check its files for a photo of Dorothy Schlappig". March 9 1967 the Times then ran photos of both girls side by side to illustrate the similarities in appearance.
After 56 years, Dorothy's friends and family need closure. For more than half a century, someone has gotten away with murder.
Please come forward with any information you might have.
The affects of Murder never go away.
Please give Dorothy and her family JUSTICE!
You can call Berks Crime alert @ 1-877-373-9913 or email alertberks@aol.com
