Andrew Dillon: Pennsylvania Serial Killer Who Targeted Elderly Women
Overview
Andrew Dillon was a Pennsylvania serial killer responsible for the murders of four elderly women between 1990 and 1995 in Scranton and the Harrisburg area. His crimes were characterized by attacks on older women, severe physical violence, sexual assault, strangulation, robbery, and, in several cases, attempts to conceal the murders by setting fires or creating conditions that could destroy evidence. Dillon ultimately admitted involvement in four murders and received four consecutive life sentences.
Dillon has sometimes been described as having five confirmed victims because the March 1994 murder of 67-year-old M. Geneva Long closely resembled his known crimes. That classification overstates what was legally established. Although investigators later examined Dillon as a possible perpetrator in Long's death and the circumstances raised significant questions, Dillon was not convicted of killing Long and the available record does not conclusively establish that he committed her murder. Long is therefore more accurately described as a possible or suspected victim rather than one of Dillon's four confirmed victims.
The Murder of Agnes DeLuca
The earliest confirmed killing associated with Dillon was the October 1990 murder of Agnes DeLuca in Scranton. Court records describe Dillon, Edward Luckett, and another man going to DeLuca's residence on October 28, 1990, intending to rob her. Dillon broke a window to gain entry and opened the door for the others. When DeLuca screamed, she was physically restrained and suffered a broken neck that left her paralyzed. The attackers searched her apartment for valuables while she remained helpless.
DeLuca was then beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and asphyxiated. The attackers also left the gas turned on inside the residence, apparently creating the possibility that a fire or explosion might conceal what had happened. The broken window used to enter the apartment allowed the gas to escape, preventing that effort from succeeding. Her body was discovered on October 30, two days after the home invasion. Later Pennsylvania court decisions consistently identify October 28 as the date on which the fatal attack occurred.
Despite the brutality of DeLuca's murder, Dillon was not immediately prosecuted. The investigation remained unresolved for years while Dillon continued moving through Pennsylvania's criminal justice system. He eventually became a prime suspect, and on September 30, 1995, police arrested and charged him in connection with DeLuca's killing.
The Harrisburg-Area Murders
Several years after DeLuca's death, elderly women in and around Harrisburg began dying in attacks displaying striking similarities. Victims were beaten and strangled, sexual violence was involved, property was taken, and attempts were sometimes made to obscure the crimes with fire. Investigators eventually recognized that the cases could represent the work of the same offender.
Dillon had connections to the neighborhoods in which the women lived. He was familiar with the area around Goldy Snyder's bait shop, lived near the residence where M. Geneva Long was murdered, and spent time near Neda Hoerner's neighborhood while attending appointments after his release from prison. These geographical connections became increasingly significant once investigators began comparing the individual crimes.
Goldy Snyder
Goldy Snyder, 86, was killed on October 4, 1994, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Snyder was associated with a local bait shop that Dillon was known to frequent. Her killing involved the same combination of extreme physical violence, sexual assault, and strangulation that investigators would later recognize in other attacks on elderly women in the area.
The Snyder case initially lacked the type of physical evidence that investigators would later obtain in another homicide. Nevertheless, the similarities between Snyder's murder and Dillon's other crimes eventually became important. Prosecutors ultimately obtained Dillon's guilty plea in Snyder's murder as part of an agreement that spared him from the possibility of a death sentence. Snyder consequently became one of the four murders for which Dillon accepted responsibility.
Neda Hoerner
Neda Hoerner, 77, was killed on March 13, 1995, at her home on Walnut Street in Susquehanna Township near Harrisburg. A visiting nurse arrived at approximately 10:00 that morning and discovered that the house was on fire. Firefighters subsequently found Hoerner's body in her bedroom.
Hoerner had been severely beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. The physical injuries demonstrated an exceptionally violent attack. Investigators also discovered evidence suggesting an effort had been made to conceal the killing with fire. Personal property connected to Hoerner, including a box bearing her name, a towel from her residence, and coins, was later discovered several blocks away near a bus stop.
The Hoerner investigation proved particularly important because biological evidence recovered in the case eventually produced a DNA connection to Dillon. Investigators learned that Dillon had repeatedly signed out of a halfway house during early 1995 to attend drug counseling and job-related appointments close to Hoerner's residence. The DNA evidence helped investigators move beyond the circumstantial similarities among the murders and directly connect Dillon to one of the Harrisburg-area victims.
Lucy Crable
Lucy Crable, 81, was murdered on July 4, 1995, inside her home on Boas Street in Harrisburg. She was discovered on her living-room floor after a violent attack. Crable had been beaten and sexually assaulted, and one of her stockings had been wrapped around her neck. Evidence indicated that her attacker had entered by cutting a screen and manipulating the fastening on a door.
A neighbor reported seeing a man entering Crable's backyard and later identified Dillon from a photographic array. Investigators also discovered that Dillon had left an Independence Day gathering for a period of time that afternoon. His clothing when he left was consistent with the description provided by the witness.
The evidence became even more significant when police searched the Boas Street apartment Dillon shared with his girlfriend. Investigators recovered a white jewelry box and a pendant belonging to Crable. Her murder caused authorities to create a task force and more closely compare the recent killings of elderly women. The investigation quickly focused on Dillon and also led police back to the unsolved Agnes DeLuca murder in Scranton.
Confirmed Victims
- Agnes DeLuca, 86 - Fatally attacked on October 28, 1990, inside her residence on Prescott Avenue in Scranton, Pennsylvania; her body was discovered October 30. Dillon participated with two other men in a home invasion in which DeLuca was beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and asphyxiated.
- Goldy Snyder, 86 - Killed October 4, 1994, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Snyder was beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. Dillon later pleaded guilty to her murder.
- Neda Hoerner, 77 - Killed March 13, 1995, at her Walnut Street home in Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania. She was beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled, and a fire was set at the residence. DNA evidence ultimately connected Dillon to the crime.
- Lucy Crable, 81 - Killed July 4, 1995, inside her Boas Street home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She was beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. Property belonging to Crable was subsequently recovered from the apartment where Dillon lived.
Possible Victim: M. Geneva Long
- M. Geneva Long, 67 - Murdered March 11, 1994, in her apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Long was beaten to death and her apartment was set on fire. Evidence indicated that she had also been sexually assaulted. Dillon lived extremely close to Long's apartment at the time, and her murder later drew attention because of its similarities to the four killings Dillon admitted committing. However, Long should be regarded as a possible or suspected Dillon victim rather than a confirmed victim.
The Geneva Long Controversy
The murder of M. Geneva Long became one of the most complicated aspects of the Dillon story. Long was killed on March 11, 1994, months before Goldy Snyder. Her Harrisburg apartment was set on fire following a vicious assault. Andrew Dillon was staying with his girlfriend in the same building and was living only a short distance from Long's apartment.
Police questioned Dillon during the original investigation, but investigators ultimately pursued David Gladden and James Carson instead. Gladden was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Years later, investigative reporting brought renewed attention to Dillon. By that time, Dillon had admitted murdering four elderly women whose deaths bore significant similarities to Long's killing.
The similarities were notable: an elderly female victim, severe beating, apparent sexual violence, strangulation or asphyxiation-related violence, robbery, and an attempt to use fire to conceal evidence. A criminal-profession expert who reviewed the cases considered the similarities sufficiently strong to recommend another examination of the Long murder. Prosecutors themselves later acknowledged that Dillon's known pattern made him a plausible suspect, although investigators did not develop conclusive physical evidence establishing that he killed Long.
Gladden's conviction was eventually vacated and the charges against him were dismissed in 2007. His exoneration further complicated the unanswered question of who actually killed Long. While the circumstances surrounding Dillon remain suspicious, the responsible approach is not to automatically add Long to his confirmed victim total. Available records establish four murders for which Dillon was held responsible, with Long's death remaining an important possible connection.
The Investigation Closes In
The July 1995 murder of Lucy Crable was the event that brought the separate investigations together. Police recognized similarities between Crable's death and the murders of Snyder and Hoerner. Witness information placed Dillon near the Crable residence, and the discovery of Crable's possessions in Dillon's apartment provided investigators with powerful evidence.
Authorities then learned that Dillon had already been considered a major suspect in Agnes DeLuca's 1990 murder in Scranton. When DNA evidence from the Hoerner investigation was matched to Dillon, investigators finally had a forensic connection capable of linking him to the developing series. Dillon was subsequently confronted with evidence from crimes committed in two different Pennsylvania communities over a period of several years.
Arrest, Admissions and Sentencing
Dillon was arrested on September 30, 1995, for the murder of Agnes DeLuca. The investigation expanded as authorities examined the Harrisburg-area killings. Evidence from Hoerner's murder, property recovered in connection with Crable, the similarities involving Snyder, and Dillon's own admissions ultimately established his responsibility for four murders.
Rather than ultimately facing separate death-penalty trials for all of the killings, Dillon entered guilty pleas and received four consecutive life sentences. As part of the resolution involving Goldy Snyder's murder, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. The consecutive sentences ensured that Dillon would remain imprisoned for life.
Pattern of the Crimes
Dillon's confirmed victims shared an important characteristic: they were elderly women who were vulnerable to an attacker capable of overpowering them inside their homes or places familiar to them. His crimes frequently combined robbery with sexual violence and extreme physical assault. Strangulation or asphyxiation was central to the killings, although additional injuries were inflicted in several attacks.
Another recurring characteristic was an apparent concern with destroying evidence. Gas was left flowing after the DeLuca murder, while fire was associated with the Hoerner crime. The suspected Long homicide also involved a fire, one of several reasons investigators and outside experts later considered Long's death potentially connected to Dillon.
Geography was equally important. Dillon was not selecting locations at random across a wide area. He had connections to places close to several of the victims. He lived near Long, frequented Snyder's bait shop, lived close to Crable, and repeatedly traveled to appointments near Hoerner's home. Once detectives placed these geographical relationships beside the similarities in the crimes themselves, the emerging pattern became difficult to ignore.
Importance of the Case
The Andrew Dillon case illustrates how serial crimes can remain separated when murders occur in different jurisdictions or when investigators initially have plausible suspects in individual cases. The DeLuca murder occurred in Scranton years before the cluster of killings around Harrisburg. Meanwhile, authorities had already arrested other men for Geneva Long's murder, reducing the likelihood that investigators would initially incorporate her case into a developing serial-murder investigation.
It was the combination of witness observations, recovered property, geographical connections, forensic evidence, and comparisons between crime scenes that eventually exposed Dillon's pattern. DNA evidence from the Hoerner investigation was particularly important because it provided a scientific link at a time when investigators were trying to determine whether several brutal killings represented the work of one offender.
Legacy
Andrew Dillon is most accurately described as the murderer of four confirmed elderly victims in Pennsylvania, with a possible connection to a fifth homicide. Agnes DeLuca, Goldy Snyder, Neda Hoerner, and Lucy Crable represent the four killings for which the evidence, admissions, and legal proceedings established Dillon's responsibility. M. Geneva Long's death remains closely associated with the investigation but should not be presented as a conclusively proven Dillon murder.
The case is remembered not only for the violence inflicted upon elderly women but also for the investigative complications surrounding the crimes. Years passed between DeLuca's murder and Dillon's arrest, separate agencies investigated different victims, and another man spent years imprisoned for a murder that later became connected to questions about Dillon. Ultimately, Dillon's four consecutive life sentences ended his ability to prey upon other vulnerable women, while the unresolved questions surrounding Geneva Long continue to distinguish between what is strongly suspected and what was actually proven.
