Neighbors Who See Stabbing Kick Ass
An Opera Singer's Tragedy, A Victim's Justice: The Murder of Laura Ronning
Monday, August 10, 2009 at 11:26 am
Paul Plishka singing "Come dal ciel precipita" in San Francisco, circa 1984.
On November 13, 1973, Metropolitan Opera star bass Paul Plishka performed the role of Banco (Banquo) in Opera Philadelphia's staging of Verdi's Macbeth. In Act II, Scene 2 of the opera based on Shakespeare's "Scottish play," Plishka stepped onto the stage to sing Banco's aria, "Come dal ciel precipita." The first part of the aria addressed Banco's son, Fleanzio (Fleance):
"Be careful how you go, o my son...
Let's go out from this darkness...
I feel something unknown
Growing in my heart,
Fraught with sad premonition and suspicion." ~ [Translation source]
In that long-ago Philadelphia production, the part of Fleanzio was performed by Paul Plishka's then-10-year-old son, Jeff.
Banco's warning was intended to save his son from the feared Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth. His fear was summarized by the lines, "E il mio pensiero ingombrano, Di larve e di terror" - "And my thoughts are filled with ghosts and terror."
There was no way to know then, of course, what the father and son playing these roles would face many years later. There was no way of knowing that Jeffrey Plishka, the boy onstage with his opera star father, might one day be the cause of "ghosts and terror."
*****
On July 27, 1991, Camp Cayuga waterfront director Laura Lynne Ronning took a break. Her family would say later that Ronning centered her life around children, but on this Saturday she decided it was time to use a day off from her counseling duties to hike alone from Camp Cayuga to Tanners Falls. Laura set out on foot about 11 that morning, with a book and some lunch.
She never returned.
Laura Ronning was reported missing early the following Sunday, having missed a 1:30 a.m. camp counselor curfew.
NewsPaperArchive.com
Lt. John Mitchell was preparing searchers to help find Laura Ronning that Sunday morning when he was approached by Jeffrey J. Plishka. Plishka was 28 at the time and lived on a farm on Rural Route 1 in Honesdale, not far from the scene.
Plishka asked the Lieutenant for a description of the missing woman. Mitchell gave him a basic description, but he left out a few details - such as the fact that Laura had been wearing a bathing suit.
*****
Laura Ronning's body was found just over 24 hours after she left Camp Cayuga. She'd been the victim of a gruesome, horrifying crime.
Laura was found about 35 feet off the road to Tanners Falls. She was partially clothed, and according to the Pennsylvania State Police, she had been "sexually assaulted peri or post- mortem and left in a posed, partially exposed, sexually degrading position."
The killer first attacked her in the road. He shot her in the head with what forensics would later determine was a .22. The killer then carried Laura into the woods by the road, where he raped her. She was dying or already dead when the assault occurred. Then the killer posed her body, a kind of sick, final flourish.
About 4 hours after searchers discovered the missing woman's body, court documents state that Jeffrey Plishka returned to the area. He spoke again with Lt. Mitchell and this time he revealed that he'd seen Laura Ronning the day before. He said he saw her at Tanners Falls as she sat on a rock reading, and noticed her because she was young and pretty.
Plishka said he liked to go to the Falls to look at girls. He didn't have to ogle Laura Ronning, either, he said, because there were plenty of other girls there.
Jeffrey Plishka also said that even though he didn't speak with Laura Ronning, he considered acknowledging her with a wave. But, he told the cop, he decided against a greeting because he thought it might scare her.
Lt. Mitchell observed something interesting as he spoke with Jeff Plishka - a scratch under Plishka's eye.
*****
As the investigation unfolded, there was a steady trickle of reasons to suspect Jeff Plishka might have murdered Laura Ronning.
His account of what he'd done the day she vanished didn't jibe with times and locations. He said he could see Laura by the Falls from his truck as he drove - police determined that there was no logical way Plishka could have seen Ronning clearly enough to determine much about her from the road. Plishka's knowledge of the victim's clothing and appearance could only have come from seeing her up close.
A friend of Plishka's also indicated she'd waited nearly 2 hours for him to return to his residence that day. Then she added a detail about his personality that surely must have set off some alarms for the cops - Jeff Plishka, said his friend, sometimes had "fits of rage."
Police confiscated numerous firearms from Plishka's residence in late 1992. According to court papers, Paul Plishka cooperated as well: "Paul PLISHKA, Sr, also turned over to Pennsylvania State Police at Honesdale a number of pistols of various calibers."
Police found blood on the barrel of a .22 caliber Magnum Ithaca rifle taken from Jeff Plishka's residence. Forensic testing showed that the same rifle could not be "ruled out" as the weapon that killed Laura Ronning.
Police didn't have everything they needed yet. They didn't have the final link in the chain of evidence.
Jeffrey Plishka moved to Florida.
*****
As Laura Ronning's family waited for answers to their questions, Jeff Plishka moved into property owned by himself and his father on Marco Island.
In November, 1996, Plishka married Tracey Ann Hope. Public records indicate the marriage didn't last long, however - by December of 2000 the couple had filed for divorce in Churchill County, Nevada.
Six more years passed. Then, in February of 2006, the investigation into Laura Ronning's murder was renewed. Investigators returned to the blood on the barrel of Jeff Plishka's .22.
Laura Ronning's mitochondrial DNA matched a profile pulled from the blood on the rifle.
*****
Jeff Plishka found himself answering questions about Laura Ronning again on May 12, 2009. He became more anxious as he spoke, eventually standing and pacing. Finally he stopped and turned to his interrogators.
Plishka said, "I hope I didn't kill that girl."
One of the investigators, Corporal R. Stoud, wasn't sure he'd heard right. "What did you say?"
Plishka repeated, "I hope I didn't kill that girl."
The two began a verbal pas-de-deux. Stoud asked, "Did you kill her?"
Jeff Plishka said, "No."
Asked if his DNA might be on the victim's body, Plishka said, "I sure hope not." The cops pressed, and he said he 'hoped' his DNA wasn't on Laura Ronning's body. Then he said his DNA "shouldn't be" on the victim.
Plishka was scrambling. The cops seemed to back off. They asked him to make a written statement, and he in turn asked if someone could prepare it on his behalf.
One of the troopers was going over the statement with Plishka when he said this: "I remember that fucking bitch never waved to me."
*****
Jeffrey James Plishka, now 46, was arrested in Onley, Virginia on July 30, 2009, almost 18 years to the day after Laura Lynne Ronning was brutally slain.
He is being held without bail in Wayne County, PA. Plishka faces several counts of murder in addition to attempted rape and "deviate sexual intercourse."
Paul Plishka has made no public comment on his son's arrest, but a "former family friend" told the New York Post that the Plishkas have "done everything [they] can to keep [Jeff] off the radar."
At a bail hearing, the Wayne County District Attorney stated that Jeff Plishka was a flight risk, due to "considerable family resources." The DA stopped short, however, of accusing the Plishkas of obfuscating the investigation.
If Jeff Plishka is found guilty of murdering Laura Ronning, he could face the death penalty.
[NY Post, The Wayne Independent, the archives of the St. Petersburg Times.]
Tags: Camp Cayuga, Jeff Plishka, Jeffrey James Plishka, Jeffrey Plishka, Laura Lynne Ronning, Laura Ronning, Metropolitan Opera, Paul Plishka, unsolved homicide, unsolved murder
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