John Patrick William Kilman was a 19-year-old male with dreams of becoming an artist. He was diligently working to save for his tuition at the Art Institute of Philadelphia by taking shifts at the 24-hour Stop-N-Go convenience store on Chester Pike and Huron Avenue in his hometown of Norwood, Pennsylvania. In the early hours of what he had prophetically called his 'lucky day,' April 18, 1986, his life was tragically cut short.
During a robbery that netted the perpetrator a mere $82.76, the young, aspiring artist was shot twice.
The call came into the Norwood Police Department at approximately 2:55 a.m. from an anonymous source. When officers arrived at the convenience store, they discovered John's body. He had sustained gunshot wounds to his head and abdomen. Rushed to the nearby Taylor Memorial Hospital, he was pronounced dead at 3:59 a.m. The brutal and senseless nature of the crime left his family, including his 14 siblings, and the local community in a state of shock and profound grief. His mother remembered him as a kind and considerate son who was always thinking of others and had grand plans to buy her a beautiful home one day.
For more than three and a half decades, the murder of John Kilman remained a painful cold case. Investigators kept the file open, and his story was even highlighted in the Delaware County District Attorney's 'Remember Me?' series, a public appeal for information on unsolved homicides. Then, after 36 long years, a breakthrough emerged. In August of 2022, authorities announced they had identified a main suspect: 57-year-old Michael Klein, formerly a resident of Prospect Park. The identification was based on a confession Klein had made in June of that year, during which he revealed details about the crime that only the killer would know.
Just as a resolution seemed within reach for the Kilman family, it was cruelly snatched away. Before he could be formally charged with the murder, Michael Klein died of a heart attack on July 4, 2022. While the identification of a suspect brought a measure of closure, the absence of a trial and conviction means that, while the case is now considered inactive, it officially remains open. No arrests were ever made in connection with the murder.
