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Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Warm and humid. Low 74F. Winds light and variable.
This is a photo of the chair Jeff Trate believes Ivan Darling was sitting in before he was killed. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Jeff Trate, Gettysburg resident, sifts through letters and cards that came from the former residence of murder victim Ivan Darling. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Gettysburg resident Jeff Trate looks at some of the military uniforms that were found in a trunk while cleaning out the house. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
A photo of Earle Myrick with some of the lighters were also found. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Jacob Trate, Gettysburg resident, holds a bottle of cognac that was found in the house they cleaned out. It is about 100 years old. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
One of the many photos that were found when cleaning out the house. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
This is a photo of the chair Jeff Trate believes Ivan Darling was sitting in before he was killed. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Jeff Trate, Gettysburg resident, sifts through letters and cards that came from the former residence of murder victim Ivan Darling. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Gettysburg resident Jeff Trate looks at some of the military uniforms that were found in a trunk while cleaning out the house. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
A photo of Earle Myrick with some of the lighters were also found. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
Jacob Trate, Gettysburg resident, holds a bottle of cognac that was found in the house they cleaned out. It is about 100 years old. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
One of the many photos that were found when cleaning out the house. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)
An unsolved 1986 homicide scene “smelled like a closed-up tomb” nearly 36 years later when it was recently cleaned out.
A local family planted themselves in the decades-deep dust, dirt, and mold discovered when cleaning out the 524 York St. home in Gettysburg Borough.
It appeared untouched. The home where 79-year-old Ivan Darling was found dead on Christmas Day 1986 remained frozen in time.
“It was like a time capsule,” Gettysburg resident Penny Trate said. “Everything was left the way the day he died. The calendar was dated December 1986.”
The Trate family, who moved near the unsolved case site in 2018, offered to clean the property in March and April after their landlord bought it, they said.
“You could tell there was a murder in there,” Penny’s husband, Jeff said. “It was a mess.”
Jeff recalled seeing bloodstains on a chair and the living room rug.
“The blood pattern indicated Darling was killed in the living room,” according to Gettysburg Times archives.
There was not anything found relating to Darling’s murder investigation, said Jeff.
“We found no murder weapon,” Jeff said. “There were no notes left. Nothing.”
Former Gettysburg Police Detective Walter G. Gliem Jr. said in an article dated Dec. 28, 1993, he thought about the York Street home often.
“It is one of the older homes in town and it used to be kept neat, but now it is withering away,” he said seven years after the murder.
Fast forward 36 years and the Trate family spent an entire month cleaning out that house, filling three dumpsters with the detritus of a life cut short.
The refrigerator and freezer were filled with items dating to 1986, expelling a repugnant scent when the doors were opened for a look inside, said Jeff.
The home was in disrepair, the ceiling falling from where now-dead squirrels had taken up residence in the vacated home’s overhead and walls, according to Jeff.
“I found a black crow underneath the kitchen table with his head cut off,” said Jeff. “That was weird.”
Penny and her son, Jake, who say they have experience communicating with spirits, conducted a ghost investigation at the property before cleaning out the house.
They entered the home around 9 p.m. one night but found it to be clear of spirits and not haunted, Penny said. When walking through the home, they asked if Darling was there and wanted to talk.
“There was no answer. It was a normal, calm house,” Penny said.
Penny believes the York Street home belonged to Earle Myrick, who passed away March 18, 2021, according to his obituary. Myrick was Darling’s stepson, according to Darling’s obituary.
Since Myrick’s family was allegedly not interested in the items, the Trate family donated much of the furniture, scrap metal, clothes, and more.
They also saved some keepsakes for themselves and sold items as well.
Jeff, who served 25 years in the United States Army National Guard, was particularly fascinated by Myrick’s military treasures tucked away in his attic.
Aside from his military uniforms and lighters, Jeff uncovered letters Myrick penned to his mother while he was serving, as well as stories he wrote.
“He was always letting his mom know what he was doing. He was a mama’s boy,” Jeff joked, saying there were approximately 200 letters written to his mother. “He loved his mom.”
In the letters, Myrick repeated the same information, discussing the weather and how he was about to go off or on duty.
The letters are from when Jeff believes Myrick served in the U.S Navy.
Myrick served in the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until his retirement, according to his obituary.
Penny said most of the stuff in the house “was well-hidden,” noting items were stuffed in blankets and in odd places.
The family also discovered a cognac bottle that was still full and about 100 years old.
“It’s like he didn’t throw anything away,” Penny said. “He was very secretive.”
Their landlord “turned around and sold the place” because “the house needed too much work,” according to Jeff.
“The contractors fixed it up before the new owner moved in,” Jeff said.
Jeff said the Adams County District Attorney’s office cut a piece of the living room carpet stained with blood to take with them after learning they were cleaning out the property.
In June, Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett announced that local detectives are taking a new look at the unsolved homicide of Darling.
Gettysburg Borough Police Department and Adams County District Attorney’s office detectives are resurrecting Darling’s case, ruled a homicide, with the cause of death “determined to be massive hemorrhaging from numerous puncture wounds,” according to the release issued by Sinnett’s office.
A forensic pathologist from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown said an unknown weapon caused the wounds, and police noted a knife could have been involved, according to Gettysburg Times archives.
Darling was found dead in the home around 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, 1986, but the time of death was estimated between Sunday, Dec. 21 or Monday, Dec. 22.
“Robbery is being considered as the primary motive in the incident,” the article reads. Cash and personal items were missing from Darling’s home, according to the Gettysburg Times.
According to his obituary, Darling, born in Harford, N.Y., worked at the Gettysburg Furniture Co., Gettysburg College, Lee Metals, and the Gettysburg Tour Center prior to his retirement.
Throughout the investigation, the Gettysburg Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have contributed to “various parts of the case,” according to the release.
“Detectives will be reviewing case files, interviewing persons, former investigators, and reviewing evidence based on current day technology,” the release reads. “Investigators are optimistic that new processes may provide leads that were not technologically possible previously.”
Anyone with information pertaining to the case is encouraged to contact Detective Chris Evans of the Gettysburg Police Department at 717-334-1168 or Detective Tim Guise of the Adams County District Attorney’s office at 717-337-9840, ext. 1153, or Adams County Crime Stoppers at 717-334-8057.
Readers may contact Vanessa Sanders at vsanders@gettysburgtimes.com.
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