Thirty-one years ago, someone murdered Bernie Casson and buried her outside her house in Middle River. The killer was never caught. Now, police are asking the public for any fresh information to revive their investigation.
According to the Baltimore County Police Department, Casson, 60, was last seen on Halloween in 1985, though her family didn’t report her missing until Dec. 6, around five weeks later. The same day she was reported missing, police showed up at her home on Earls Road. They found her buried in a shallow grave out back, covered in dirt, trash bags, wood and insulation. Casson had been fatally struck in the head.
Strangely enough, her car, a 1974 Plymouth Valiant, was found with one flat tire parked at a local bar of which she wasn’t a customer. Police located the vehicle at Earl’s Bar on Bird River Road, about two-and-a-half miles away.
Money could have been a factor. Police say she had recently cashed three inheritance checks valued in total at around $15,000 just before she went missing.
In a release, police pointed to a few potential persons of interest. They learned she was last seen with a young white man who was around 5’7” tall and had dark hair and a mustache. Furthermore, several men had been working on her property right before she disappeared, one of them a 26-year-old white male who was around six feet tall with dirty blond hair and red highlights. The latter was driving a white Dodge Ram pickup with writing scrawled on the side.
Despite uncovering these details and conducting a thorough investigation, homicide detectives never quite figured out who killed Bernie Casson.
Asked whether the timing of their new search coincides with the anniversary of Casson’s death, department spokesman Cpl. John Wachter said it wasn’t intentional. “Sometimes we will take old cases and put the information out to see if it will stir anyone’s memory,” he said in an email. “That is what happened in this case.”
The department released a couple pictures from the investigation for reference. In this one, the photo shows where Casson’s body was found. The body itself is blurred out.
Here’s an image of Casson.
And here’s an image of where she lived. Her trailer is on the left side.
If you know of anything that could help them crack the case, police ask that you give them a call at 410-307-2020.
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