For decades, the case of Joel Krueger's death remained a painful mystery, a cold file in the archives of Pennsylvania law enforcement. That all changed in March of 2021, when a 79-year-old convicted serial killer named Edward A. Surratt, already serving two life sentences in a Florida prison, began to talk. His confessions would finally bring a semblance of closure to the family of Joel Krueger and several others whose lives were tragically cut short in the late 1970s.
Joel M. Krueger, a 36-year-old male from Greenwood, was the director of volunteer services at the Altoona VA Hospital. On New Year's Eve of 1977, his life came to a violent end. His body was discovered on the morning of January 1, 1978, by a truck driver at a rest stop on Interstate 70, just south of Breezewood in Bedford County. He had been killed by a shotgun blast to the chest while in his parked car. For over four decades, his killer remained at large, and the circumstances of his death were a haunting unknown.
The breakthrough in the case came when Pennsylvania State Police investigators traveled to Florida to interview Surratt, a former truck driver with a dark past. During these interviews, Surratt admitted to a string of murders, including the killing of Joel Krueger. He also confessed to the murders of Guy and Laura Mills in their Breezewood home on the very same day. Surratt’s confessions detailed his involvement in a total of six homicides across Pennsylvania in 1977 and 1978.
Due to Edward A. Surratt's existing life sentences in Florida and another murder conviction in South Carolina, the district attorneys in the respective Pennsylvania counties made the decision not to prosecute him for the newly confessed crimes. The logistical and security challenges of transporting and trying an elderly, high-risk inmate were deemed prohibitive, especially since he was already guaranteed to spend the rest of his life behind bars. While there will be no new trial or conviction for the murder of Joel Krueger, the confession of Edward A. Surratt has finally provided the long-awaited answers, officially closing a case that had remained unsolved for more than 40 years.
