Pa. police probe cold case, ’68 death of Marine ID’d in 2012

    Pennsylvania State Police hoping to solve a 1968 cold case want to speak with anyone who might have known a young Marine at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital.

    Investigators say 20-year-old Purple Heart recipient Robert “Bobby” Corriveau went missing from the hospital in November 1968. He was found fatally stabbed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Downingtown.

    For more than four decades, his identity was unknown, and he was buried in an unmarked grave.

    That’s when DNA technology helped police identify the Lawrence, Mass., native. They matched him through his sister, Virginia Cleary, of Conway, N.H.

    • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

    Cleary still wants to know who killed her brother. But his 82-year-old mother says she’s at peace and fears that any more digging into the past might only further “darken” her son’s name.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal