{"id":1080,"date":"2014-01-08T05:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1080"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:45:39","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:45:39","slug":"the-tragic-case-of-margaret-bankowski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/01\/08\/the-tragic-case-of-margaret-bankowski\/","title":{"rendered":"The tragic case of Margaret Bankowski"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Margaret <\/a>
Margaret Bankowski was 15 when she was murdered. (Photo credit: Unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The body of Margaret was found in an isolated section of Hopewell Township. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div>
\"At <\/a>
At a preliminary hearing in January 1953, Sophia and Zigmund Bankowski sat behind Katherine Smutko, the woman accused of killing their daughter. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Assistant <\/a>
Assistant district attorney displayed shoes of the victim. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Spectators <\/a>
Spectators packed the Chippewa Township Municipal Building for a preliminary hearing in the Bankowski case in January 1953. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Katherine <\/a>
Katherine Smutko was congratulated after the acquital. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Jurors <\/a>
Jurors visit an Ambridge embankment prosecutors hinted might be the murder site. (Pittsburgh Press photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

February 1949:<\/strong>\u00a0Sophia Bankowski endured countless cruelties once her 15-year-old daughter Margaret walked out of the family\u2019s Ambridge home to visit friends on a foggy January afternoon in 1949. Margaret wanted to show off her birthday present \u2014 a portable radio. She never returned.<\/p>\n

The worst of the cruelties began several days later, when a steelworker walking his dogs along an isolated lane in Hopewell Township noticed something odd in a nearby briar patch. It appeared to be an arm sticking out of the snow. As he moved closer, the steelworker discovered the body of a girl.\u00a0She was lying face up. Her skull was bashed in. One of her ears was nearly severed.<\/p>\n

Authorities identified the body as that of Margaret.<\/p>\n

News of the murder was devastating for Sophia and proved emotionally trying for many in Ambridge. Margaret was a freshman at Ambridge High School. She wore bobby socks, saddle shoes and what were then called \u201cpedal pushers.\u201d Today we call them blue jeans.<\/p>\n

An estimated 20,000 people filed through the funeral home to pay their respects to Margaret and her grieving family. Classmates served as pallbearers. One collapsed as the casket was lowered into a cold grave at Economy Cemetery<\/p>\n

Police arrested more than 50 suspects, then released them all. The investigation dragged on and on. It appeared Margaret would have no justice.<\/p>\n

Then, four years later, authorities made a shocking announcement \u2014 they\u2019d arrested a 41-year-old housewife named Katherine Smutko and charged her with the murder.<\/p>\n

Spectators jammed into a Beaver County courtroom for what promised to be a spectacular trial. On the fourth day, Sophia took the stand. Pale and thin, she burst into tears when shown pictures of her daughter\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

Margaret bore a close resemblance to her mother. Both were slender and sported the same short haircut. They could even wear each other\u2019s clothes, though Margaret thought her mother\u2019s were too old fashioned. Margaret \u201ceven walked pigeon-toed, like I do,\u201d Sophia said.<\/p>\n

Such testimony was key for prosecutors, who were making the case that Margaret\u2019s murder was a case of mistaken identity. Smutko, they argued, had intended to kill Sophia.<\/p>\n

Why? Because, at the time of the murder, Smutko and Sophia\u2019s husband Zigmund were engaged in an illicit affair. Smutko, prosecutors claimed, wanted Sophia out of the way.<\/p>\n

At one point during her testimony, Sophia was asked to try on Margaret\u2019s heavy, blood-stained coat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a cruel thing to do,\u201d objected the defense attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot more cruel things about this case,\u201d replied the prosecutor.<\/p>\n

The jacket fit, and so the cruelties continued.<\/p>\n

Sophia listened stoically to details of the affair \u2014 on the stand, Zigmund referred to it as \u201cdating.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Interestingly, Smutko\u2019s husband Nicholas sat through the proceedings with his hearing aids unplugged.)<\/p>\n

After two weeks of testimony, Judge Robert E. McCreary delivered what he called \u201cthe most important decision of my life.\u201d He granted a motion clearing Smutko of the slaying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a case of circumstantial evidence, but inference upon inference,\u201d he said. The case against Smutko was so flimsy, he ruled, it should not go to a jury. His decision left no room for an appeal.<\/p>\n

McCreary ordered Smutko and Zigmund Bankowski held on adultery charges. A grand jury, however, failed to indict the two. The murder, the Post-Gazette predicted accurately, would most likely remain unsolved.<\/p>\n

Sophia Bankowski died July 1997 in Ashville, NY, where she resided with her son Phillip and his family. She was 88. Zigmund died in 1996.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She was lying face up. Her skull was bashed in. One of her ears was nearly severed.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe tragic case of Margaret Bankowski<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[960,1048],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/tumblr_mz22crfA411rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=936%2C739&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2179,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/27\/gus-brickner-prepares-to-swim-the-icy-allegheny-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":1080,"position":0},"title":"Gus Brickner prepares to swim the icy Allegheny River","date":"December 27, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"If you\u2019re making a list of the toughest 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