York County murder largely forgotten, but not by victim’s daughter who witnessed it
This graphic tells the terrible story of Theodore Gotwalt’s murder of his girlfriend Marian Flaharty in her York, Pa., apartment in April 1971. See the York Daily Record/Sunday News video below story about the deceased woman’s daughter, Beverly, who witnessed the murder. Also of interest: A list of traumatic, painful incidents that rocked York County and Witman murder among York County’s most notorious crimes.
The 1971 death of Marian Flaharty at the hands of her boyfriend, Theodore Gotwalt, has been out of public view for decades.
But not forgotten by Marian Flaharty’s daughter, Beverly, who was in the apartment in The Avenues section of York, when her mother was slain… .
The aftermath of the shooting involved a manhunt not unlike that launched against 1990s mass murderer Mark Spotz in York and surrounding counties. The hunt ended with Gotwalt’s suicide.
A small piece of the story, but one that history should also remember, was the death of a police dog in the manhunt.
In the area of Legore’s restaurant on Brougher Lane in West Manchester Township, a K-9 officer went after Gotwalt.
The murderer shot the dog, a German shepherd named Fury. The dog died, in the line of duty, a rare if not unprecedented incident in York County’s history.
In ‘Murder Still Haunts’ (5/16/10)), York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Mike Argento thoughtfully recounts the story and Beverly’s current-day quest to learn more about her mother.
