Body Found At Refuse Dump

Body Found At Dump

Susan Roush enjoyed freedom not usually afforded to sixteen year old girls. She often stayed away from home for several days without checking in. She quit school. Some say she ran the streets of Wheeling, W.Va. and associated with an unsavory crowd. She had become an ideal target for any predator seeking an easy mark.
On April 1, 1979, a scavenger sifting through an illegal garbage dump on Sand Hill Road in Marshall County, near Wheeling Creek Road, found Susan's fully clothed body under some debris.
The killer had bound her wrists with rawhide cords and left a clothesline-type rope around her neck - and he broke her jaw.
Crime scene investigators theorized that Susan's body had been at the dump for two days.
West Virginia State Police Trooper Jack Ice said the girl had not been reported as missing.
Her parents failed to do so because she had broad freedom to come and go as she pleased. It was not unusual for her to stay with friends for five days each week.
No flag came from school attendance records because Susan had quit school and Wheeling Park High School officials had no way of tracking her. Prior to high school, the youth attended Triadelphia Middle School.

Sifting Through Dump Site

An anonymous caller to a Wheeling newspaper strengthened a theory the body had been brought to the dump from a separate kill zone.

The caller told the paper "a murder was committed somewhere near Wheeling Park and you better check it out."

The caller failed to specify if the murder happened at Wheeling Park High School or at Wheeling (recreation) Park. A Wheeling News Register story noted "the caller was interrupted and the call was cut off, presumably by someone who did not want the caller to complete the statement."

Dr. Manual Villaverde, medical examiner at Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale, said Dr. Robert Salsbury, who performed the autopsy, told him the cause of death was strangulation. The body was battered and bruised and showed signs of violence about the face. There appeared to be no evidence of sexual assault.
We encourage anyone who may have information about this case to contact us at tips@ovcoldcases.com.

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