The search for justice that began in 1962 has finally reached its conclusion.
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn announced today that a Grand Jury investigation has identified William Schrader as the person who raped and killed 9-year-old Carol Ann Dougherty inside St. Mark’s Church in Bristol on October 22, 1962.
For more than six decades, this tragic case has haunted the community and inflicted unimaginable pain on Carol Ann’s family. Despite the passage of time, the case was never forgotten and was consistently under review by law enforcement. While Schrader passed away in 2002, his name is now definitively linked to the crime that took Carol Ann’s young life, a conclusion reached through the combination of decades-old evidence and recent investigative developments.
The Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury formally found that William Schrader committed the crimes of rape and murder of the first degree in connection with Carol Ann Dougherty's death. The investigative team, with over two decades of combined experience, “ultimately, independently and collectively, concluded that the investigation only allows the conclusion that William Schrader raped and murdered [Carol Ann] Dougherty.”
The Grand Jury’s findings are detailed in a 53-page report, which was approved on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, by President Judge Raymond F. McHugh, supervisor of the Grand Jury. The Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury based its finding on several key pieces of evidence, including:
On the afternoon of Oct. 22, 1962, Carol Ann Dougherty left her home to meet friends at the Bristol Borough Free Library. She was an avid reader and was excited to return the books she had just finished so she could check out the next books in the mystery series that she so loved.
She rode her bicycle from her home, stopped to get a Coke and penny candy at Tommy’s on Farragut Avenue, and then was seen traveling down Lincoln Avenue. She was last seen alive outside of the doors to St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church. When she didn’t return in time for dinner, her parents became worried and went looking for her.
Her father found her body inside the church and investigators determined she had been forcibly raped and strangled to death with the use of a ligature. At the time of the murder, Schrader lived on Lincoln Avenue, a block and half from the church, which is located at 1025 Radcliffe Street. A witness reportedly saw him outside the church around the time of the murder.
Following the crime, he was questioned by police, provided a pubic hair sample, and failed a polygraph test. He was also found to have lied about his alibi, with timecards proving he was not at work on the day of the murder.
Shortly after being questioned, Schrader fled to Florida, where he lived for a year before bouncing around Texas and Louisiana, eventually settling in Houma, Louisiana, where he lived most of his life.
Schrader's life was marked by a pattern of violence and sexual violence, particularly against young, pre-pubescent, and adolescent females. His criminal history, spanning multiple states, included assaults with deadly weapons.
In 1985, he was convicted in Louisiana in the death of 12-year-old Catherine Smith after he intentionally set fire to his house, knowing she and other family members were inside. Further investigation and interviews with his family revealed a much darker truth: Schrader had sexually abused nearly every female child he lived with or had access to, including his own biological daughter and granddaughters. The majority of these victims were between the ages of six and 13. He also sexually abused two adult women who had cognitive delays such that they were lacking the ability to consent.
In 1993, results from the pubic hair sample collected from Schrader showed "significant similarities" to hair found clutched in Carol Ann’s hand. Of the pubic hair samples collected from 176 men over the decades, 141 were tested. All other individuals were eliminated, and William Schrader was the only person who could not be eliminated as the source of a pubic hair found clutched in Carol Ann’s hand.
In another similarity, the Lucky Strike cigarettes found at the crime scene were determined to be the same brand Schrader was known to smoke.
In a recent development, investigators from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Pennsylvania State Police interviewed Robert Leblanc, Schrader’s stepson, in November 2024. During this interview, Leblanc revealed that Schrader had confessed to him on two separate occasions that he murdered a little girl in a Pennsylvania church. Schrader specifically told Leblanc that he lured the girl inside the church and raped her and “had to kill the girl in Bristol to keep her from talking.”
According to investigators, Leblanc's statements provided a crucial breakthrough. He had no prior knowledge of the case's specific details, such as Schrader being seen outside the church, his proximity to the crime scene, or the location of Carol Ann's bike. This makes his account highly credible, as the details he provided could only have come from a confession by the perpetrator.
This exhaustive Grand Jury investigation reviewed and eliminated other prominent initial suspects, including Frank Zuchero, Wayne Roach and Rev. Joseph Sabadish.
Testimony confirmed that a “confession” obtained from Zuchero, a man considered the town drunk, described by all as slow, who was only educated up until the 5th grade, was unreliable, and his alibi was confirmed, while Roach was eliminated by his verified alibi of being out of state and the non-matching hair sample.
Sabadish initially lied about his whereabouts at the time Carol Ann was murdered, but police were able to confirm that he was in a store in Hulmeville Borough buying lingerie for a “female friend.” His romantic pursuit of the married woman would be contrary to his vows of celibacy, explaining why he initially lied about his whereabouts.
The Grand Jury also heard powerful testimony from Veronique Valliere, a renowned clinical and forensic psychologist and expert in sex offender assessment and classification. Dr. Valliere testified that the perpetrator was a psychopath who had a deviant sexual arousal for prepubescent victims. She indicated he was someone who has a history of violence, was incredibly impulsive, with little or no self-control, and was comfortable with the high risk associated with these crimes.
Dr. Valliere further testified that criminals this callous often want to share or brag due to arrogance and grandiosity, taking pride in their control and getting away with the crime. This analysis aligns precisely with the crime and the crime scene, and with Schrader's behavior, and his later confessions.
This painstaking work by Bucks County Detective Lt. Timothy Perkins, Troopers Jordan Rhodes, Christopher Cleveland, and David Bair with the Pennsylvania State Police’s Criminal Investigations Unit, the Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury, and the prosecution team of District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees, has brought a definitive conclusion to a case that has haunted a community for decades.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office hopes this resolution can finally bring a sense of peace to Carol Ann’s family and everyone affected by this tragic crime.
(The preceding was a press release provided verbatim by Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn)
