The Trick or Treat Killer

 

Every Halloween, children's thoughts turn to black cats, goblins and ghouls. For most, it is a joyful occasion, a chance to indulge in all things delightfully wicked. From magic potions to witches on broomsticks, the imagery is often lighthearted and playful. because Halloween monsters are just make-believe. But tragically, in October of 1954, one little girl discovered that some monsters are real.

On the evening of October 28, a little blonde-haired girl joined her friends for a night of trick or treating in the borough of Conemaugh, just east of Johnstown. When nine o'clock came and went, the parents of 6-year-old Karen Mauk grew concerned. It was the mother, Mrs. William Mauk, who called the police, though she could not recall the names of the other children Karen had gone out with that evening. Earlier that afternoon Karen had been playing with a cousin of the same age, Paul Lindenberg, but Paul had returned home hours earlier.

Refusing to take any chances, the authorities jumped into action. The Conemaugh Fire Department and local citizens organized a search party, but hours of searching failed to produce any clues. Shortly after midnight, a fireman named Steve Steffish made a blood-chilling discovery near the entrance of the St. Petka Cemetery in East Taylor Township, two miles from the Mauk home. It was Karen's lifeless body, lying face up, with fresh blood trickling out of the mouth. On the ground lay a bag of candy, a shiny red apple, and tatters of the first-grader's Indian maiden Halloween costume.

"She was absolutely nude," stated Jack Rue, a Johnstown newspaper reporter who had reached the cemetery shortly after the fireman's discovery. "She was sprawled on her back and her poor little fist was clenched." Rue was emotional when he recounted the event. And, like the residents of Conemaugh, he was angry, too.  "We don't know for sure what happened, but I would hate to be any party responsible for this. These people are fighting mad."

Karen's devastated mother, naturally, blamed herself for the tragedy. "Oh merciful God, I wish I had made her stay in," she sobbed the next morning. "I didn't want Karen to go out last night but she insisted, so I put on a false face and costume hat on her and let her go for a while."

 

Police Narrow Search

An autopsy performed by Coroner Joseph Goveker on October 29 revealed that Karen Mauk had been strangled to death by "clothing or some bulky object", and that Karen's face was bruised and bloody. Though the coroner had found no evidence of sexual assault, Conemaugh police chief George Fesko believed that Karen had been the victim of a "sex maniac", and this whittled down the list of potential suspects. Bolstering this belief was the fact that, just hours before Karen's body had been found, a Conemaugh teenager had reported an attempted sexual assault just two blocks from the Mauk home. "We don't know if there is any connection but we are questioning the high school girl closely for a description of her assailant," stated Chief Fesko.

On November 1, over three thousand people gathered at the cemetery to pay their respects to the slain child, whose coffin was conveyed to Forest Lawn Cemetery by the same volunteer firemen who had answered the call to search for her after her disappearance. But only close friends and family were allowed to attend the graveside services.

Almost immediately police were flooded with anonymous tips, and the name of one man in particular was repeated. Harry Gossard, a 39-year-old twice divorced former merchant seaman with the Atlantic Refining Company, had returned to Conemaugh that May and moved in with his mother. Cambria County District Attorney Fred Fees admitted that Gossard was known to authorities-- he had a record of five prior arrests, including one sex crime. Gossard was arrested by State Police on November 2 after returning from visiting relatives in Philadelphia, and he immediately confessed to the murder of Karen Mauk.

After just five days, excellent policework spearheaded by Captain Blair of the State Police and County Detective Reed had led to an arrest and confession. And now that the authorities had Gossard locked away in the county jail in Ebensburg, they were determined to keep him there. District Attorney Fees instructed law enforcement not to make any statements to the press, and reporters were denied permission to interview Gossard in jail. For the man dubbed by the press as the Trick-or-Treat Killer, it appeared to be the beginning of the end.

 

Horrid Details Emerge

After Gossard had been formally arraigned before Justice of the Peace Stephen McGanka, authorities revealed chilling facts about the case. Investigators claimed that Harry Gossard had lured Karen Mauk into his automobile by offering her money for her Halloween trick-or-treat bag. He then drove her to the hillside graveyard where he smothered her and shoved her body down an embankment. 

The fact that Gossard hadn't sexually assaulted his victim didn't earn him any sympathy in the blue-collar steelworking town; the former merchant seaman was kept under heavy guard transported from the jail back to Conemaugh. Surprisingly, the victim's mother expressed perhaps the most sympathy, declaring that her daughter's slayer was a madman and that she felt great sorrow for Gossard's mother.
"I have known her for a number of years and she is a lovely person," said Mrs. Mauk. The opinion of Karen's father, an employee of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, was less sentimental.

"I hope the wheels of justice move rapidly and the man receives his just punishment in the eyes of the Lord," stated William Mauk. 

Gossard pleaded guilty to strangling Karen and was immediately committed to Torrance State Hospital for mental observation, where it was later decided that Gossard was mentally fit to stand trial. When the case went to trial in March before three Cambria County judges-- Ivan McKenrick, George Griffith and H.C. McWilliams-- all that was left to decide was on which degree of murder Gossard should be convicted. The prosecution produced the 14-year-old girl who had nearly been assaulted just moments before Karen Mauk was abducted, and this heavily damaged any chance of a second or third-degree murder charge. Nancy Ann Skrodinsky pointed out Gossard as the man who grabbed her. She testified that Gossard followed her as she ran screaming toward her home, and told the court that Gossard only ran away when a concerned neighbor intervened. Two boys from Conemaugh, Leo Flook and Joseph Mateer, also took the witness stand and stated they had seen Gossard near the Skrodinsky home that evening.

After three days of testimony the judges fixed Gossard's degree of guilt-- effectively dealing him a death sentence. Since he had already confessed and plead guilty, all that was left to do was wait for Governor George Leader to fix the date of execution. Harry Gossard was ordered to Western State Penitentiary.

 

The End of Harry Gossard

Gossard expressed no remorse for his actions, but as the date of his execution drew nearer, he began to grow desperate. The governor had fixed the date of execution for March 12, 1956. In September of 1955 Gossard's attorney, John M. Bennett, petitioned the court for mercy on the grounds that Gossard was a person of "diminished responsibility" due to his sexual deviations. Attorney General Fred Fees strongly opposed the pleas for leniency, stating that if there had been extenuating circumstances, they would've come out in court. The State Pardons Board rejected the plea.

Gossard hired a new attorney, Thomas McBride of Philadelphia, and in January made a plea for a commutation of his death sentence. This plea was also rejected. On May 5, a stay of execution was issued by Gov. Leader, but this only postponed the inevitable, moving the killer's date with death to June 4.

On the morning of June 4, Gossard was transported from Western Penitentiary to the death chamber at Rockview. He was strapped into the electric chair by four guards at 9:01 pm and Executioner Jerry Kremer sent two thousand volts through the killer's body. Gossard was pronounced dead at 9:04 by Dr. J.G. Weixel of Bellefonte. On the night before he died, Gossard wrote a will, which he gave to prison official before his execution. In this will, he requested that his body be donated to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for anatomical research. This was the first time in the history of the state's 344 electrocutions that such a request was made.

Sources:

Lancaster New Era, Oct. 29, 1954.
Scranton Times-Tribune, Oct. 29, 1954.
Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 29, 1954.
Bedford Gazette, Oct. 30, 1954.
Huntingdon Daily News, Nov. 2, 1954.
Monongahela Daily Republican, Nov. 4, 1954.
Somerset Daily American, March 3, 1955.
York Dispatch, April 19, 1955.
Greenville Record-Argus, Sept. 28, 1955.
Canonsburg Daily Notes, Jan. 14, 1956.
Hanover Evening Sun, June 5, 1956.