DNA tests provide no leads in ’77 Bucks case

ASSOCIATED PRESS Posted: Monday, July 1, 2013, 12:18 AM

PROSECUTORS in Bucks County say long-awaited DNA tests in a murder case from 3 1/2 decades ago have shed little light on who killed the victim.

Matt Weintraub, Bucks County's chief of prosecution, told the Bucks County Courier Times that the test results were inconclusive "due to the degradation of the evidence."

Given that, Weintraub said the 1977 murder of 20-year-old Shaun Ritterson of Bristol will remain open but will no longer be an active investigation.

"Personally, I'm disappointed," he said. "But professionally, I'm satisfied that we've done all that we can do to solve this case and bring some finality to it."

Ritterson was found stabbed and disemboweled on a Buckingham hillside in June 1977. Numerous people were questioned, but no arrests were ever made.

Weintraub told relatives of the victim that he shared their disappointment and said "they have handled this with grace and dignity."

Family members said the renewed focus on the case had reopened old wounds but they had hoped it would bring a conclusion.

"You never have closure in something like this," said the victim's sister, Grace Gordon. "Each day you learn to deal with it in your own way. Whether it's sadness, anger, or recalling happy memories, or crying with my mom. Either way, it would never have brought closure. A wound like this never heals."

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DNA tests provide no leads in '77 Bucks case