Death of a man 38 years after attack ruled manslaughter

US News

From Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

The recent death of a 64-year-old Pennsylvania man was ruled a homicide following a brutal beating by thugs with baseball bats nearly 40 years ago.

Craig Tschudy was 26 years old when he was attacked by unknown assailants in 1986 due to a case of mistaken identity. He suffered “permanent traumatic brain injury and complications,” the York County Coroner’s Office said Wednesday.

Tschudy died on June 5 at Inners Creed Nursing Center, the coroner said, and listed the cause of death as homicide.

“At the time of the initial attack, York City Police were the investigating police agency, and at the time of the injury, no charges could be filed because the attackers could not be specifically identified,” the coroner’s office said in a statement.

“Tschudy, who was 26 years old at the time of the injury, was reportedly attacked with a baseball bat by then-unknown assailants in a case of mistaken identity.”

The office said no autopsy will be performed and no charges will be filed at this time.

The office pointed out, however, that there is no statute of limitations for homicide if an arrest is made in this decades-old unsolved case.