Pennsylvania charges Krajcir with 1979 murder

Confessed serial killer Timothy Krajcir has now been charged with all nine murders authorities say he has confessed to.

Pennsylvania became the last state to file charges against Krajcir on Friday, when Berks County District Attorney John Adams charged him with the 1979 murder of Myrtle Rupp.

The 51-year-old woman was found strangled to death in her South Temple, Pa., apartment April 17, 1979.

According to Cpl. William Moyer of the Pennsylvania State Police, seminal fluid obtained from the victim's bedspread provided a positive DNA match to Krajcir.

Krajcir, 63, told police he and his parents used to live in the same neighborhood as Rupp when he was around 15 years old, but he doesn't recall seeing her until years later when he returned to the Temple area.

He said he had decided to do some nighttime voyeurism in the neighborhood and spied Rupp in her home. The following night, he broke in and awaited her return, but got scared and fled the scene when he heard her talking to someone else as she was entering the house.

Krajcir allegedly left and returned a week later, where he greeted Rupp at her front door, showing a fake police badge, according to state police. He said he was the officer investigating the break-in.

When Rupp invited him in, he brandished a knife, sexually assaulted and strangled her.

Krajcir will be served with the warrant by Berks County authorities at a later date via video arraignment, according to police.

Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri have also filed charges against Krajcir in connection with the murders of eight other women. In all but four cases, rape charges were also filed.

Krajcir's attorney, Illinois public defender Larry Broeking, did not immediately return a message left after business hours Friday.

Krajcir pleaded guilty last month to strangling a Southern Illinois University student in 1982 and is serving a 40-year sentence in the Tamms Correctional Center in Illinois.

Krajcir was charged last month with killing five women in Cape Girardeau in 1977 and 1982. He is also charged with the 1978 stabbing death of another woman in Illinois and was indicted earlier this month in Kentucky on charges of kidnapping and burglary in a 1979 homicide.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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