Case Closed Recovered Skull Puts Murder Case To Rest

Twenty-two years and two days after Ron Marcussen’s mysterious disappearance, sheriff’s officials finally closed their investigation.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday that they believe George E. Stroisch shot and killed Marcussen, who vanished along with his wife in 1973.

Stroisch died two months ago.

“I know he wouldn’t have done something like that,” said Catherine Stroisch, George’s widow. “It hurts so much to have his name stomped on like this.”

Earl Winans, a retired detective who investigated the case in the 1970s, said he has no doubt Stroisch killed Marcussen.

“We believed almost from the beginning that Stroisch was the guilty person,” he said Tuesday.

Detectives say two things have helped solve the case - the recent discovery of Marcussen’s skull and the bullets found inside of it.

A Post Falls man found the skull Oct. 26 east of Athol.

Until then, there had been no signs of Marcussen since he and his wife, Rita, disappeared on Nov. 19, 1973.

In 1974, hunters found Rita Marcussen’s skull - about 1-1/2 miles from where her husband’s skull would later be found.

“We worked on it at least for a solid year and practically nothing else,” Winans said Tuesday.

Judge Gary Haman, who was the county prosecutor at the time, charged Stroisch with first-degree murder for Rita Marcussen’s death only.

A witness saw Stroisch towing the Marcussens’ car after their death. Stroisch admitted he was with the couple the day they disappeared.

When police searched Stroisch’s home they found several weapons - including a .22-caliber handgun. With a previous conviction, Stroisch was put in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

At the murder trial, Stroisch’s cellmate testified that Stroisch told him he killed the couple.

Terry D. Ball, a convicted armed robber, testified that Stroisch just blurted it out one day.

Stroisch told the inmate that Ron Marcussen was supposed to bring drugs in exchange for money. But instead, Marcussen showed up without the drugs.

“The guy tried to take the money from George and George said he shot him,” the inmate said, according to court transcripts. “And George said that when he shot him the girl took off running. He caught her and he said he strangled her.”

Stroisch denied the accusations and testified that he had been hunting when the Marcussens turned up missing. In the end, he was acquitted of murder and set free.

Investigators believe the lack of Ron Marcussen’s remains freed Stroisch.

“The defense brought up that Ron Marcussen was never found, therefore Ron could have killed Rita and then left town,” said Detective Gerald Wiedenhoff.

That changed when Marcussen’s skull turned up.

The two bullets found in the skull have the same markings as those from a RG Rohm .22 pistol, Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. That same type of pistol was found at Stroisch’s home in 1973.

Wiedenhoff believes the Marcussens died the way Stroisch’s cellmate testified they did.

However, Catherine Stroisch said she believed her husband was innocent the first time and believes he is innocent even now that the murder case has been closed.

“If I felt for one second that he was guilty, I would not have been with him,” she said Tuesday. “I’ve never been ashamed of him.”

, DataTimes