A MOTHER and daughter were killed and their family reportedly didn’t know for 19 years because they thought the pair moved to Australia.
Robert Honsch, 78, was the one responsible for killing his wife, Marcia, 53, and daughter, Elizabeth, 17, back in 1995 when they lived in a Brewster, New York.
Marcia Honsch (pictured) was murdered alongside her daughter by her husband in 1995[/caption]
Elizabeth Honsch (pictured) was only 17 when her father murdered her and left her behind a strip mall[/caption]
Robert Honsch (pictured) got away with it for 19 years by telling their relatives that they moved to Australia[/caption]
Prosecutors said Honsch then changed his last name to Tyree and started a new life. He remarried and had three children who reside in Dalton, Ohio.
Marcia and Elizabeth’s bodies were found but went unidentified for 19 years because of a lack of evidence.
DNA testing could only confirm that Marcia and Elizabeth were mother and daughter, but it wasn’t until 2014 when their identities were revealed by a woman from Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“Evidence established that shortly after the murder, Honsch went to the homes of family members and told them that Marcia and Elizabeth had gone to Australia ahead of him,” prosecutors said.
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“And he would be following them due to a job transfer,” the state attorney’s office said in a statement.
“Shortly thereafter, Robert Honsch fled to South Africa and came back to the United States years later.”
SENTENCING
In March, Honsch was convicted of killing his daughter, Elizabeth.
Her body was found wrapped in sleeping bags and garbage bags behind a Connecticut strip mall in the fall of 1995, according to CBS News.
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DNA and fingerprint evidence connected Honsch to his daughter’s murder.
This Wednesday a judge imposed a prison sentence of 60 years for Honsch.
“He has shown no remorse for his actions,” Judge Laura Baldini said, according to the Daily Record.
“These calculated, deliberate actions are reflective of a heartless individual without care for others or the laws of society.”
Honsch is already serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for the murder of his wife, Marcia.
Her body was found in western Massachusetts, a week after her daughter’s body was recovered.
Marcia and Elizabeth were both shot in the head, but police still don’t know where the killings took place.
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Elizabeth’s half-sister, Diana Mirabel, told the judge: “This was a lifelong nightmare for myself and my family.
“Justice is served for Elizabeth and may she rest in peace.”
