Krajcir confesses to killing Paducah woman

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Again providing details only the killer would know, Timothy Krajcir convinced Paducah police he committed the murder of Joyce Tharp, a 29-year-old woman kidnapped from her home in 1979.

A flower deliveryman found Tharp's naked body lying beside some garbage cans behind Park Avenue Baptist Church in Paducah on the cool, rainy morning of March 23, 1979.

Krajcir is now the primary suspect in eight unsolved homicides as a result of investigations sparked by confessions he provided after DNA tied him to the 1982 killing of Deborah Sheppard, a Southern Illinois University student raped and murdered in her Carbondale apartment.

He pleaded guilty to Sheppard's murder Dec. 10 and was charged later that day with the 1977 murders of Brenda and Mary Parsh, and Sheila Cole, the 1982 rapes and murders of Margie Call and Mildred Wallace, and an additional rape from 1982, all in Cape Girardeau.

At a news conference Wednesday at the Paducah Police Department, assistant chief Danny Carroll said Krajcir's confession convinced him they had finally caught Tharp's killer.

Carroll said he was amazed by Krajcir's ability to remember the intricate details of the killing.

"I'm totally confident that he committed this offense," he said.

Krajcir had made several trips to Paducah, working as an EMT for the Jackson County Ambulance Service, and spent the afternoon of March 22, 1979, "cruising, looking for a victim," he told police.

He parked his car and strolled through the neighborhood of Forest Hills, peering in windows of homes, one of which was Tharp's.

Krajcir returned around 1 a.m. and found her asleep upstairs. He told her she wouldn't be harmed if she cooperated with him, he allegedly confessed.

He then drove 70 miles to his apartment in Carbondale, Ill., where he forced Tharp to performed a sex act and then strangled her, police say. He dumped her body in the trunk of his car and waited for nightfall, when he returned to Paducah and stashed Tharp's body behind the church.

Police had two strong suspects in the unsolved homicide and have told one of them the case has been solved, Carroll said. The other suspect died several years ago.

Krajcir told Carroll that Tharp did nothing to offend him or attract him, she was simply a victim of circumstances.

"She just happened to be in the apartment he chose," Carroll said.

Krajcir originally emerged as a suspect in another Paducah homicide, that of Anna Brantley, 74, who was raped and killed in her home June 21, 1981.

Krajcir agreed to discuss old cases with Paducah detectives only if they agreed to "take the death penalty off the table," Carroll said.

He talked openly about the Tharp kidnapping and murder but denied emphatically that he knew anything about Brantley.

DNA evidence collected during that homicide investigation was submitted to a lab anyway, and police believe Krajcir could still be involved.

"There were similarities, and the time frame fits," Carroll said.

Carroll believes Krajcir may be charged with kidnapping in McCracken County, but Jackson County, Ill., would have jurisdiction for the murder because that's where it occurred. As of Wednesday, Krajcir had not been charged in Jackson County.

Krajcir was methodical during the interview, covering all the bases, Carroll said.

"Most homicides, there is more emotion involved," he said.

Krajcir also remains the primary suspect in the rape and murder of 51-year-old Myrtle Rupp, strangled to death in her South Temple, Pa., home in 1979.

Police are optimistic that charges will be filed soon, said William J. Moyer of the Reading, Pa., police department.

Detectives spent three hours last week interviewing Krajcir at Tamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Ill., during which he was cooperative, Moyer said.

They also served a served warrant and submitted a DNA sample of Krajcir to a Pennsylvania state police lab for comparison to samples found at the scene.

Krajcir was pinpointed as a suspect after a strong match came up in CODIS, the database police use to search for DNA matches, Moyer said, but a fresh sample was required for the lab to make another comparison.

Last week, Marion, Ill., police announced Krajcir is "a distinct person of interest" in the 1978 killing of Virginia Lee Witte, 51, of Marion.

Witte's husband found her dead in their Lakeview Drive home. The mother of two had been stabbed, and police believe she was sexually assaulted.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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