30 years later, Delaware police make murder arrest (video)

A woman in Georgia has been charged in connection to a 1985 cold case murder in Delaware.

The search for a suspect in the 1985 murder of Joseph Braun of Wilmington, Delaware has led police to Dalton, Georgia.  Monday, New Castle County Police announced the arrest of Sandra Hartzag, on October 4, 2015, by Dalton Police.  Hartzag has been charged in connection with Braun’s death.

Police say the body of 54-year-old Braun, a retired schoolteacher, was found on July 1, 1985 in his home in the 2200 block of Hearn Street.  A neighbor reportedly contacted police after she had not seen Braun for several days.  Evidence collected from the victim’s home and his 1981 Silver Honda Accord, which was found a week later in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, helped the New Castle County Police Cold Case Homicide Squad close in on Hartzag.

That evidence, along with information obtained in 1999 from two men, who told police they believed a relative had committed the crime, put detectives on the trail of a suspect who died in 1997.  The tip also connected Hartzag, the suspect’s then-girlfriend, to the scene of the crime.

Cold Case Detective Sergeant Thomas Orzechowski and Civilian Case Investigator, Ret. Sergeant Glenn Davis re-opened the case in October.  Armed with all the evidence, the investigators were able to locate Hartzag in Georgia.

“The interesting piece isn’t just the case. It’s the people that solved it, in my opinion because these are very dedicated officers that feel that justice will and should be served. And that’s why this unit was put together and today is our first, which I believe, of many successes in this regard,” said Colonel E. M. Setting, New Castle Count Police, Chief of Police.

Hartzag is currently being held in Georgia awaiting extradition to Delaware.  She’s been charged as a fugitive from justice and is facing murder, robbery and conspiracy charges.