PSP search abandoned cemetery in Ilonka Cann cold case
LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — There are new developments in the investigation of a 54-year cold case in Luzerne County that was recently ruled a homicide.
I-Team reporter Andy Mehalshick learned the investigation led state troopers to an abandoned cemetery this week for the disappearance of then 22-year-old Illonka Cann.
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Pennsylvania State Police confirmed they were tipped off to the abandoned cemetery after the coroner’s inquest earlier this month.
State police confirmed with the I-Team that they searched and dug up parts of the Town Hill Cemetery in Huntington Township on Wednesday after receiving an anonymous tip that evidence connected to Ilonka Cann’s case may be at that cemetery. That tip came following a coroner’s inquest this month.
Cann went missing from her home in Huntington Township in 1970, which is located near the cemetery that was the focus of the state police search.
Neighbors tell 28/22 News they saw state police cruisers parked near the cemetery located on Municipal Road and saw heavy equipment at the cemetery as well. We saw freshly dug soil in the cemetery as well as a mound of soil near the cemetery.
The gravestones in the Town Hill cemetery date back to the early 1800s and late 1700s. Jacob Garton lives across from the cemetery.
“Well, a little nervous. I have children and they like to play out here in the woods. I used to have them just out of respect for them to stay out of there. Now I’m glad I kept the out,” said Garton.
Town Hill Cemetery is located several miles from the Cann property. Where Ilonka Cann vanished in May of 1970. Her 15-month-old baby was found alone in his crib over the past five decades through numerous searches have been conducted for Cann.
The most recent was in 2022 when troopers searched the Cann property they did not say what if anything they found a rare coroner’s inquest was held earlier this month a six-member jury ruled Cann’s death a homicide, but the jury did not name a suspect after the ruling Cann’s sister told 28/22 News.
“I’m very pleased with the verdict. I mean the result of that brought out who my sister was she was a good and kind person who would have never walked away from her baby,” added Anita Harless Ilonka Cann’s sister on March 6.
The Cann mystery has people in this area talking.
“I do hope that the family receives some type of closure and they can find maybe some type of evidence to help put the case to rest,” stated Garton.
The state police have not said what if anything has been found in the search at TownHill.
No one has been accused of wrongdoing in the homicide of Ilonka Cann.
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