2 arrested in 1984 rape, killing of Pennsylvania teen girl

Pennsylvania authorities announced Friday the arrests of two men in the 1984 rape and murder of a 14-year-old suburban girl found dead in a wooded area two weeks after she disappeared.

Authorities have charged Shaw with criminal homicide and rape.

Police said Shaw killed the girl, who was babysitting his daughter, while high on methamphetamine.

Police say the accused killer’s accomplice, Sanders, helped dump the victim’s body. Bensalem police and Bucks County prosecutors said Friday that George Shaw and Robert Sanders had been taken into custody in the cold-case killing of Barbara Rowan.

Rowan had vanished August 3, 1984 after she left her home at a trailer park to visit a nearby friend, The Inquirer reported. 1 North and North River Drive in Bensalem, police said.

Police had a suspect, but charges were never filed due to insufficient evidence. Updates will follow on 6abc.com and Action News at Noon.

This photo provided by Bensalem, Pa. Police shows Robert Sanders. A few weeks later, her decomposed body was discovered. Sanders testified that Shaw moved his vehicle to the back of the apartment, went alone into the closed bedroom and then drove away, police said. Authorities said she died of asphyxiation from obstruction of her airway, and tape was found on her neck and skull. Sanders is jailed on unrelated charges.

Investigators said Sanders helped dispose of the body.

Additionally, the Bucks Courtier times report said that Rowan was just about to enter high school, after graduating from the eighth grade.

She was immature for her age, her parents said, playing mainly with younger girls. She liked reading, Jordache jeans, cats, dogs and hamsters, a family member said.