WAYNE COUNTY, Pa. — Laura Ronning's murder feels like it was yesterday. But 30 years have passed, along with some who were involved in the case and with no resolution. Who killed Laura Ronning is still a big question.
July 27 is a difficult day for many people in Wayne County. 30 years ago, Laura Ronning, 24, a camp counselor at Camp Cayuga near Honesdale, went for a hike to Tanners Falls to spend her day off in the sun. According to investigators, less than an hour later, she was dead.
Ronning's body was found down an embankment. She had been sexually assaulted and shot in the head.
In 2009, Jeffrey Plishka was arrested for the murder of Ronning. Investigators said he put himself in the area at the time she was last seen.
In august of 2010, Plishka was tried and acquitted of the murder.
Mark Zimmer was the assistant district attorney in Wayne County in 1991. He recalls the day that Ronning's body was found like it was yesterday.
"It was a horrible scene. That's what sticks in my mind. This scene was absolutely horrible," Zimmer recalled. "And the mystery was evident from day one."
"That just doesn't happen here, and this is such a peaceful, idyllic spot, and to think right here, the horror that happened 30 years ago, almost to the hour. That's heartbreaking," said Kevin Edwards, a reporter for the Tri-County Independent newspaper in Wayne County.
Edwards has spent his entire career following the case, and every year he retells the story of Ronning's murder, hoping to drum up information that can provide any answers.
"Arguably, time has run out on this case, and it's just, it breaks my heart," he said.
"The most lasting thing is the frustration that I've had ever since that day," Zimmer said.
Unfortunately, Ronning's mother, Pat Gicking, has since passed, not knowing who killed her daughter, but her words from 1992 still hold weight for those who hope this case can be solved.
"I was not going to allow anyone to forget that Laura lived, and she died in this place. and the person that did it has to be caught," Gicking said in 1992.
Investigators officially call this a closed case, but there's a chance that someone may know something after all these years. If anything, Zimmer and Edwards agree that they hope the family gets the answers they deserve after all this time.