Hello. I’m Rebekkah Rosewood and this is Thrice Cursed.

Welcome back to the third installment of 22 in ‘22. In this series, I will have told you thrice now of a murder that was finally solved in 2022.

In the last 22 in ‘22 episode, I discussed the highly publicized case of Brittanee Drexel, which saw a good amount of media coverage, thanks in no small part to the hard work and dedication of her family. This week, I’ll be discussing a case that saw almost no media attention, likely due to bias. A bias that we see far too frequently. Due to the lack of coverage, the information I have will be limited. But every story, no matter how short, deserves to be told.

I highlighted this information first because the one news article I could find from the time of her murder failed to mention any details about who Anna was as a person. (Full disclosure, a more recent source I found did mention an additional news article from 1990, but I was unable to locate that article to see if the coverage was any less biased.) In the article I could find, they focused on her occupation. Anna had been unemployed at the time of her death and had turned to sex work to make ends meet. And as tends to happen, the media all but wrote her off as yet another victim who deserved what she got because of the profession she “chose.” A high-risk lifestyle doesn’t make a person any less worthy of life, love, or justice. Now that that’s been said, we can continue.

Anna’s body was found, more specifically, off the South berm of the Ontelaunee Trail, approximately 5 miles east of Shoemakersville near the Route 662 intersection. The unsettling discovery occurred when a motorist, stranded due to a breakdown, ventured away from his vehicle in an effort to seek assistance. At approximately 3:15pm, he stumbled upon Anna Kane’s remains. She was clothed, had facial bruises, and a rope fastened around her neck.

Authorities were easily able to determine that Anna had been murdered elsewhere prior to being left on the side of the road. The night prior to her discovery had been a rainy one, and the ground surrounding and beneath her was wet. But interestingly enough, Anna’s clothing wasn’t. The previous evening’s rainstorm had ended around 12am, leading authorities to believe that Anna had been murdered sometime within the last 12 hours.

According to an autopsy performed at Reading Hospital, Anna died from asphyxiation due to strangulation with rope, or bailing twine to be specific. As I mentioned previously, that rope had been left around her neck. She also had several facial contusions, making it clear that Anna had fought her attacker before being overpowered.

One thing that’s interesting to note, is that the forensic pathologist responsible for performing her autopsy didn’t believe she’d been sexually assaulted. Given the heavy focus on her profession in the news articles, you would think that there had been some kind of evidence pointing to a sexual nature… but nope. Just straight-up good ol’ fashioned bias. Love it.

But, my contempt for the misogyny and women hatred aside, it does beg the question… If there was no sexual component to the crime, what was the motive? Was there one?

But that’s the extent of what was included in the newspaper article. There wasn’t even a phone number to call with tips. Just a statement of “It is a homicide and is being handled as such.”

A news article released in 2018, 30 years following Anna’s murder, provided more details. Anna Kane was last seen alive around 1 am, about 14 hours before her body was found. She’d been in the area considered to be the heart of Reading’s red light district. Investigators believe she had gone into the city to find a customer for the evening.

Thankfully, during the initial investigation, DNA evidence had been collected from Anna’s clothing. The DNA revealed that her attacker had been a man, but there was nothing to match it to. When the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System was started in 1998, the DNA profile from Anna’s clothing was not in it.

Two years went by with no leads until The Reading Eagle Newspaper published an article with a photo of Anna on the front page in 1990. The article included the details of her murder and a request for information from the public. The response they received was chilling. An anonymous letter was received by the newspaper. To this day, the details of that letter have not been released. All that is known publicly is that the killer signed the letter “concerned citizen,” and they mentioned several intimate details about the murder that only the killer could have known. That letter would later prove to be from the murderer. The envelope had been sealed with saliva, and the investigators were able to match it to the unidentified male DNA pulled from Anna’s clothing.

Authorities were finally one step closer to solving her murder, but still much too far away. Aside from the fact that the DNA on the letter matched the other DNA that led them to no one, there was nothing to go on. That is, until 2022.

Nearly 35 years after her brutal murder, Anna Kane’s family finally has answers thanks to genetic genealogy testing conducted by Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia. The testing led back to a man named Scott Grim, and after executing a warrant for Grim’s DNA, authorities were able to match the DNA to the letter and Anna’s clothing.

Anna Kane’s children could finally put a face to the monster that changed the course of their entire lives. Only, it wasn’t all good news. The man behind the murder would never see the consequences of his actions. Scott Grim died of natural causes in 2018 at the age of 58. He would have been 26 years old at the time of Anna’s murder. Now I hear you asking, “If he’s been dead for 4 years, how did the police get his DNA for testing?” Well, I don’t know. Pennsylvania State Police Sgt. Nathan Trate would say nothing more than “It was obtained legally through a search warrant.”

As authorities continued to dig deeper into Grim’s life, they were able to discover that he’d been arrested in Berks County in 2002. Allegedly, Grim had sent a former business partner several threatening letters.

Beyond this unrelated event, little more is known about Grim or his connection to Anna Kane. The investigating authorities have said they intend to continue the investigation into Grim, including but not limited to examining his relationship with Anna. As of yet, interviews with those familiar with Grim have revealed no information relevant to Anna, though authorities believe an explanation is out there. They just haven’t found it yet.

They also intend to run Grim’s DNA against other cold cases.

While the murder of Anna Kane is technically solved, her family will always have questions. Anna’s daughter, who was 9 at the time of her murder, said she has mixed emotions. She’s particularly sad that her grandmother died before receiving any form of closure. She feels lucky enough to remember her, whereas her brothers don’t. And she feels angry. Angry that her mother’s killer will never have to face the consequences of his actions.

This has been the cursed tale of a young mother taken too soon, and the questions left behind.

For more cursed content you can find me at ThriceCursedPod.com. You can also find me on social media at ThriceCursedPod. For information about joining the discord server, Facebook group, Patreon, making a donation, buying merch, or anything else, please head over to the website. You can also email me at  ThriceCursedPod@gmail.com. And finally, to see my sources, you can head over to the blog on my website.

Until next time, keep your curses hexy and your hexes sexy.

SOURCES