Wayne County DA: No discussion to use new DNA techniques in 1991 Ronning murder

Oct. 9—It was a sight Stanton Pratt never forgot.

In late July 1991, the then-captain of the Honesdale Fire Department's dive team received a call from the state police to help search for a missing woman: 24-year-old Camp Cayuga counselor Laura Lynn Ronning. About 35 feet south of Route 4017 in Dyberry Twp., Pratt found her, partially clothed and buzzing with flies.

Now, more than 31 years after her killing and more than 12 years after a man long suspected of committing the murder was acquitted at trial, the memory lingers in the 76-year-old's mind.

"It's a horrendous act and a terrible tragedy," Pratt said in a recent interview. "The tragedy is compounded by the fact that they've never managed to convict someone and close this case."

Though advances in technology have helped close decades-old cold cases, Ronning's murder is not under consideration for such a reexamination, Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell said. While acknowledging there's been interest, Howell said it is too soon to say if it is something he would consider.

Ronning was reported missing July 28, 1991, a day after she embarked on a solo hike through the woods from the camp to Tanners Falls in Dyberry Twp. Police said she was raped and shot in the head with a .22-caliber bullet. She had defensive wounds on her hands and forearms.

On the 18th anniversary of Ronning's death, in 2009, authorities arrested Jeffrey Plishka, who investigators long suspected for her death, following advances in DNA testing that concluded Ronning could not be ruled out as having contributed to blood found on the barrel of his .22-caliber rifle. However, the DNA evidence proved inconclusive and the ballistics testing could not establish the rifle was used in Ronning's murder. DNA collected from under Ronning's fingernails could not exclude Plishka as a contributor, but the trial revealed one of every two white men in America also could not be excluded.

A jury acquitted Plishka in 2010.

Since then, there has been little apparent movement on the case. Plishka died in 2017, and Ronning's mother, Pat Gicking, passed away a year later.

Ronning's stepfather, John Gicking, said he has not heard an update on the case since Plishka was acquitted. He's since left Pennsylvania for Florida.

"I made up my mind when it was over and haven't been back," he said.

Howell, however, said Ronning's case is not closed.

"We continue to follow up on tips and information and to review the evidence to try to further the investigation," he said.

Pratt said he hopes the case could be furthered.

"Technology has changed so much over time," he said. "Could there be DNA evidence out there today that they couldn't use at the time?"

One notable example of a cold case thawing from a DNA breakthrough came in February when state police announced they had identified James Paul Forte as the man who killed 9-year-old Marise Ann Chiverella on March 18, 1964, in Hazleton.

In 2019, investigators teamed with Parabon Nano-Labs to create a "phenotype" facial composite from suspect DNA that investigators collected and then uploaded the DNA profile to a genealogical database. After more than a year of further investigation, that eventually led investigators to Forte, who died in 1980.

Howell said bringing in a third party like Parabon likely will require a consultation with the state police's cold case team and new funding through the county.

Gicking said investigators collected "very little" DNA evidence in the Ronning case and have gone through it. However, now in his early 80s, he still hopes one day the case will be solved.

"I don't think I'll be here to see," he said.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.