District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Capt. Seth J. Kelly, Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Commanding Officer announce a man charged in a decades-old killing was acquitted by a jury of all charges.

Rose Josephine Hnath, 78, was murdered more than 36 years ago in her North Whitehall Township home.

After a weeklong trial that concluded Oct. 10, a jury found Michael Breisch, 67, of Wind Gap, not guilty of charges that include criminal homicide, burglary, robbery – inflict serious bodily injury, and aggravated assault.

Hnath was a widow who lived alone in her home at 2690 S. Second St., along the banks of the Lehigh River.

On Jan. 21, 1989 after she failed to appear at a local church service she regularly attended, family members went to her home and found Hnath deceased.

Her home had been ransacked.

Hnath died from multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma and her death was ruled a homicide by the Lehigh County Coroner.

The case was investigated by Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Criminal Investigation Unit and charges were filed by Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Jared Christman and Trooper Zachary McCornac and Lehigh County District Attorney Detectives Robert Egan and Joseph Vazquez.

Also assisting with the investigation are the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Laboratory, the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations and Coshocton County (Ohio) prosecutor and sheriff offices.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Eric K. Dowdle.