More Information:
On Nov. 14, a man walking his dog discovered the decomposed remains of a body. Part of the corpse, clad only in socks and shoes, was inside a green plastic trash bag. Dental records identified the body as that of Elizabeth Falco, and authorities have ruled the death a homicide. They have not disclosed how she was killed.
She lived in Center City for about a year, and had worked as a legal secretary at the Philadelphia firm of Dicht & Horn although she was out of work when she died. She had continued to attend Queen of Heaven Church in Cherry Hill
Her body, clad only in her black, high-top Reeboks, was found near Philadelphia International Airport, lying in a grassy area off Tinicum Avenue.
Someone had shoved her partway into a green plastic trash bag.
Because of the decomposition of the body, authorities were unable to determine whether Falco, 25, had been raped. Nor could they determine the exact cause of death.
Although police and family members said Falco had been known to use drugs, no evidence of drugs was found in an autopsy.
Falco spent that Thursday evening at the Bank, a popular nightspot in a converted bank building at Sixth and Spring Garden Streets.
Falco was last seen about 1 a.m. that Friday, pedaling her boyfriend's bicycle toward their Center City apartment.
Liz had left behind her jewelry, including expensive gold chains. Her credit cards hadn't been used. She had filed for unemployment benefits but had never finished the paperwork so she could collect. Falco then moved in with her boyfriend and two young women on Race Street, unable to afford her own apartment.
From Philadelphia Detective Neal Aitken, Kane learned of a body that had been found Nov. 14 by a man walking his dog. Kane checked its height and hair color, and got a description of the clothing found nearby, which included a jacket with the logo "Bad Boys Club."
When people describe Liz Falco, they almost invariably use the word unconventional.
She was strong-willed, friendly and upbeat. She didn't hesitate to express her honest opinion, even when silence might have been more politic. Such frankness could anger, said those who knew her, but they said she also had a knack for delighting people with unexpected gifts and birthday cards.
She was devoted to the Grateful Dead, catching two of the group's Philadelphia concerts the week she disappeared.
Unsolved-Crimes International
[email protected]
Thank you.
December 3, 1990
FAMILY AND FRIENDS MOURN SLAIN WOMAN
Author: Jeff Gammage, Inquirer Staff Writer
Edition: NEW JERSEY Section:
A year ago, Joanne Falco helped her daughter bury her pet cat in the back yard of their Cherry Hill home. She remembered how upset her daughter was over the loss of Boo, who had been hit by a car. But Elizabeth, 25, was like that, her mother said. Her heart was easily touched. Those loving ways were heavy on Falco's mind yesterday as she prepared for Elizabeth's funeral. "She was my life, my daughter was," Falco sobbed shortly before the viewing for her murdered child. "I want to find out who did this, and I won't rest until I do." Elizabeth Falco was found dead in November. Her body was not identified until last week. Yesterday, dozens of family members and friends gathered at a Cherry Hill funeral home to remember a woman they loved and who loved them. They spoke of an active, caring young woman who always had time to help other people. People stood in small groups. Gray-haired men with sagging faces told one another about the last time they saw Liz. Women clutched ragged balls of Kleenex, made soggy by tears. Young women - not much more than girls, really - hung on the closed coffin and wept. Kathy Liez recalled how Elizabeth Falco was maid of honor at her wedding two years ago. A picture from that day, showing a smiling Elizabeth Falco in a peach dress, rested on the coffin yesterday. "She was radiant," Liez remembered. "Just her being there - she was a very special person, just a gentle soul. I can't imagine anybody not loving her." But somebody didn't. She disappeared about 1 a.m. Sept. 14, after she had left a Philadelphia nightclub called The Bank, at Sixth and Spring Garden Streets. She was last seen pedaling her bike toward her Center City apartment. On Nov. 14, a man walking his dog near the 8400 block of Tinicum Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia discovered the decomposed remains of a body. Part of the corpse, clad only in socks and shoes, was inside a green plastic trash bag. Dental records identified the body as that of Elizabeth Falco, and authorities have ruled the death a homicide. They have not disclosed how she was killed. She lived in Center City for about a year, and had worked as a legal secretary at the Philadelphia firm of Dicht & Horn. She had continued to attend Queen of Heaven Church in Cherry Hill, where her funeral Mass will be said today. "She was like a big brother - but a girl," said her brother Paul, 13. ''She helped people a lot. When we had no money, she took me out to get clothes for school. She helped me with my homework. She helped me pass sixth grade." Another brother John, 19, recalled how his sister always tried to help him with personal problems. "She was really caring," he said. "All her friends loved her so much." John was among those who came to the Murray-Paradee Funeral Home yesterday afternoon, pausing to say a prayer at a casket covered with red roses and baby's breath. A portrait of Elizabeth Falco stood nearby, revealing a pretty woman with dark eyes and hair. The sound of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon could be heard in the background, the album that she once requested be played at her funeral. "She had always had a recurring dream that she would die violently," said Nathan Sonnheim, her friend and former therapist. "It was really strange. . . . And I would tell her, 'It was just a dream.' That's what makes this even more upsetting." Sonnheim and his wife Barbara, who run Sonnheim Counseling in Cherry Hill, described Elizabeth Falco as unconventional, a free spirit who naively trusted in the goodness of others. They also described how she helped hold her family together through her parents' divorce and the cancer-related deaths of nine family members in eight years. "She had a really hard life," Barbara Sonnheim said. "She gave up a lot of her life to help her younger brothers." Nathan Sonnheim complained that Philadelphia police were slow to react to her disappearance and seemed uninterested in the case. "So many are missing because they want to be missing," said Joanne Falco. ''But I knew in my heart that wasn't true in my daughter's case. . . . "I just hope they don't drop this. I'm so worried about that," she said. ''I want to find out what happened to her. She didn't deserve anything like this."
Copyright (c) 1990 The Philadelphia
InquirerRecord Number: 9003150159