Man wanted in wife's 1981 killing arrested in southern York County

Police converged on an East Prospect-area home Thursday morning, arresting a 76-year-old former Bucks County man wanted in the 1981 death of his wife, according to a Lower Windsor Township Police news release.

William Walter Korzon, who lived in the 300 block of Barcroft Road, is facing several charges, including criminal homicide, criminal solicitation - criminal homicide and forgery and perjury, dockets indicate.

Korzon's wife, Gloria Korzon, had been missing for 39 years and was declared deceased in 1997. The charges were filed Tuesday at a judge's office in Warrington Township, Bucks County.

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"This is a big day for Gloria's family who lost her about 39 years ago," a news release states on the Warrington Township Police Department website. "This is also the biggest cold case in Warrington Township Police history."

History of violence

According to William Korzon's charging documents, he was arrested for threatening to kill his wife in Springfield, Mass. in 1968, and was then committed to a mental hospital.

The next year, the couple moved to Philadelphia and then in 1971, settled in Bucks County. Between 1968 and 1981, police investigated numerous incidents where William Korzon assaulted and threatened to kill his wife, documents state.

On March 6, 1981, Gloria Korzon left to go to work in Montgomery County and was never seen or heard from again.

"In the months and years following Gloria's disappearance, William Korzon engaged in a series of actions to lie, conceal and profit from it," documents state. "He forged documents, lied to police investigators and perjured himself in court, all in an effort to give the appearance that Gloria was still alive."

Investigation continues

Police continued to investigate Gloria Korzon's disappearance.

In 1986, Samuel Culp Sr.,a  former tenant who lived in William Korzon's Warrington Township home in the months after Gloria Korzon's disappearance, told police that Korzon "had solicited him to help ambush and murder Sgt. Joseph Adams of the Warrington Township Police Department, and that Sgt. Adams should be 'blown away,'" documents state.

Adams was one of the officers investigating Gloria Korzon's disappearance and death, documents state.

Police's investigation culminated with an interview with William Korzon earlier this year, in which he asked investigators, "Did you find the body?" documents state.

Contact Ted Czech at 717-771-2033.