Pennsylvania State Police are taking another run at a 44-year-old mystery, putting a $5,000 reward on the table for any tip that finally cracks the 1980 death of 18-year-old Donna Lee Kroboth in Northampton County.
Kroboth’s body was pulled from the Lehigh River in North Catasauqua after she vanished from a hangout spot along the river that locals know as “the Tombs.” Troop M, Bethlehem Station, says the case is still very much open and that they want to hear from anyone who might know what happened.
In a Facebook post, Pennsylvania State Police Troop M 2d Bethlehem Station said the $5,000 reward is available for information that leads to an arrest or otherwise solves the case and tagged the notice as Media Release 5563. According to the post, Kroboth had been at a party in the Hockendauqua section of Whitehall Township on July 8, 1980, and was last seen near “the Tombs” before her body was discovered days later.
Case details and what investigators know
Local coverage from the time shows Kroboth was 18, living with her boyfriend and preparing to move back home with her parents in Whitehall Township when she disappeared. The decomposing body of Donna Kroboth was found floating in the Lehigh River in North Catasauqua on July 11, 1980, according to 6abc, which cites contemporaneous reporting from the era.
How to pass along tips
Troop M’s Criminal Investigation Assessment Unit is asking anyone with information, old or new, to call 610AD861AD2026. The Pennsylvania State Police also operate a tollADfree tip line at 1AD800AD4PAADTIPS (1AD800AD472AD8477). Tips can be submitted online through the state’s tip portal at p3tips.com, and the Troop M station listing on the Commonwealth’s site provides additional contact options. Authorities say tipsters may be eligible for cash rewards depending on what their information uncovers.
Why authorities are asking again
State Police have been steadily dragging longADdormant cases back into the spotlight using the PSP Tips program, hoping that renewed attention plus 21stADcentury science will do what 1980s investigative tools could not. Modern forensic techniques, including genetic genealogy, have helped solve other decadesADold crimes, Lehigh Valley News reports…