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Opera Star's Son Nabbed in '91 Rape/Murder
By Harry Kimball
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Posted Aug 10, 09 1:35 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Some 18 years after a Pennsylvania camp counselor was shot in the head and raped as she died, cops have charged the son of a famed Metropolitan Opera bass with the brutal murder, the New York Post reports. Jeffrey Plishka, 46, has long been suspected of the crime, and the body of 24-year-old Laura Ronning was found near the farm of his father, Paul Plishka. New DNA evidence led to his recent arrest.
Insiders say the elder Plishka, who's been with the Met since 1967, helped his son evade prosecution by funding a 2-decade hopscotch around the US. “His leaving town certainly didn't make things easier for the investigation,” says a source. Authorities have long known Plishka was the last person to see Ronning alive—he told them that “bitch never waved to me” at a local waterfall—and now they have her DNA on a rifle found at the farm in 1992.