(Credit: KDKA)
WASHINGTON, Pa. (KDKA) — A Washington County man has been found guilty of murdering his teenage girlfriend more than three decades ago.
Shortly before noon, a judge found Robert Urwin, Junior guilty of third degree murder in the 1977 death of Mary Gency, 16, of Charleroi.
“Twenty years, they’re taking his life away when he’s innocent,” Ruthie Urwin, the defendant’s sister, said.
Gency disappeared from outside a store in Fallowfield Township. Her body was later found. She had been beaten to death.
“Mr. Urwin maintains he had nothing to do with this murder,” Joe Francis, Urwin’s defense attorney, said. “He loved that girl.”
During his non-jury trial, a witness testified that he saw Urwin hit Gency in the head with a hammer-like object.
A member of the Gency family read a statement thanking the prosecution in the 34-year-old case.
“It has been a long time for the Gency family to finally have closure,” Rachel Schweitzer, a member of the family said. “My father and mother, meaning my mother’s parents, can have some peace knowing that justice has been served.”
The Washington County DA says he hopes this sends a message about the importance of solving cold cases.
Urwin could face up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced in December.
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