Christopher Speelman appears in a mugshot from July 2021. (Pennsylvania State Police)
Edna Laughman was 87 when she was beaten, raped, and suffocated in her home in Oxford Township, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 13, 1987. Police initially arrested, and local prosecutors convicted, the wrong man – who spent 16 years languishing behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Now, authorities say they have finally convicted the woman’s true killer.
Christopher Speelman, 59, was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison by Adams County Judge Thomas Campbell on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to one count each of murder in the third degree and burglary and no contest to one count of rape, Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett said in a press release.
The plea and sentencing, which happened quickly, put a cap on a decades-long mystery and miscarriage of justice.
“Today’s plea and sentence finally brings a conclusion to this unique case. Were it not for the exhaustive efforts of investigators and others involved in the genealogy research in this case, the victim’s family may never have received any measure of closure for this remarkably heinous and violent attack on their loved one,” Sinnett said. “It is obvious to see that years of effort went into finally unmasking this cowardly killer of an 87-year-old woman who was able to hide behind his actions for so many years while another languished away in prison for the crime Speelman ultimately committed.”
Speelman admitted to the horrific killing in July 2021 after being connected to Laughman’s murder by DNA.
The missteps in the case before that were legion.
In 1988, Barry Laughman, a distant relative of the victim, was falsely tried and convicted of her murder. The wrongly-convicted man had an IQ of 70 and was said to be functioning at the level of a 10-year-old, according to the Innocence Project.
Multiple discrepancies between Barry Laughman’s confession and the evidence found at the scene of the crime scene were pointed out by investigative journalist Peter Shellem, who wrote a series about Edna Laugham’s death and Barry’s conviction for The Patriot-News.
Shellem’s pioneering work, including reporting an apparently coerced confession, ultimately led law enforcement to use improved DNA testing techniques. Those test results showed that Barry Laughman was not, and could not be, the killer. In 2003, he was released, and in 2004, he was officially exonerated.
“There was a somewhat-questionable confession from the original suspect,” Sinnett told Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based ABC affiliate WHTM on Friday.
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According to the DA, police made an audio recording of the confession. Instead of asking and answering full questions, however, police told Barry Laughman what they believed, and he gave one-word replies, the TV station reported.
“I don’t think any reputable police agency would use that technique today,” the DA told WHTM.
In 2018, investigators with the Pennsylvania State Police used DNA from vaginal swabs of the victim at a private testing facility to develop a genealogical profile of the killer. Investigators learned that Edna Laughman had been murdered by someone with the family name of Laughman or Speelman.
Further investigation determined Christopher Speelman previously lived next door to Edna Laughman “within the same structure” about a decade before her death, Sinnett said in 2021.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Speelman first spoke with police on May 18, 2021.
The killer initially said he knew nothing about Edna Laughman’s death or that Barry Laughman had been charged with her murder. He also denied having a “sexual relationship” with Edna but gave police a key clue when he said he was a chronic smoker. The top of a Marlboro box was found near the crime scene. Multiple cigarette butts were found in different rooms inside the victim’s home. And, investigators would learn, the octogenarian did not smoke.
Speelman agreed to provide his DNA to investigators to prove his innocence. It was a match for the killer’s. He was arrested in July 2021. He was told the test results and confessed to his role in the long cold case. He also said he acted alone.
“No case of which I am aware proves the relentless efforts of law enforcement in justly and honestly apprehending and holding those accountable for the crimes they commit,” Sinnett said in the press release. “No passage of time will stop the pursuit of justice for victims and to hold those accountable for the crimes they commit.”
Speelman will not be eligible for parole until 2046.
Marissa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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