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Plea for Clues in Pocono Cold Case Murder

LONG POND — The murder of Lee VanLuvender happened seven years ago today on state game lands in Long Pond.  But despite the best efforts of investigators,...
mon cold case

LONG POND -- The murder of Lee VanLuvender happened seven years ago today on state game lands in Long Pond.  But despite the best efforts of investigators, this case has gone cold.

Now on the anniversary of the murder, detectives and family members are making another plea.

Every day, the details of a murder that happened in Tunkhannock Township seven years ago run through the mind of one Monroe County detective.

Someone shot and killed 22-year-old Lee VanLuvender and got away.

"You think about it all the time. You go over it and talk to other investigators who have been on this case. We talk about what we might have missed," said Detective Richard Luthcke of the Monroe County District Attorney's Office.

VanLuvender was an avid hunter and was in the area along Hypse Gap Road in Long Pond.

He went out during rifle deer season and something went wrong.

"It's obviously gotten cold, you know, we get tips here and there and we run them down, but unfortunately they just seem to evaporate," said Pocono Mountain Regional Police Chief Chris Wagner.

VanLuvender's family still visits the memorial at the site of the shooting, still searching for answers.

"I will never stop. The last breath in me, I will search.  I will search and I will get my answer because this person is a coward," said VanLuvender's mother Charlene Sebring.

Seven years after that deadly shooting the scars still remain, including a mark where police carved a bullet out of a tree the day of VanLuvender`s murder.

Investigators collected fresh evidence right after the shooting in 2007. Blood stained the snow-covered ground.

Hunters who frequent the game lands in Long Pond have been questioned.

Many agree that someone has to know what happened.

"If you know something let them know.  I wouldn`t want to go my life with knowing that one of my friends or family had gotten taken out because of a deer," said Harry Zazulack of Kunkletown.

VanLuvender's family remains confident the answers still can be found.

"Yeah, yeah I do. I believe if you're willing to still ask the questions eventually you are going to get the answers," said the victim's father, Tom VanLuvender.

If you have any information that might be able to help police crack this cold case you can contact the Monroe County District Attorney's Office or Pocono Mountain Regional Police.

The victim's family is offering a reward to anyone who helps them finally find who's responsible for VanLuvender's murder.

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