What happened to Elizabeth Honsch? Robert Honsch sentenced to 60 years in prison over daughter’s 1995 death

Robert Honsch has been sentenced to 60 years in prison by Connecticut Superior Court Judge Laura F. Baldini for murdering his teenage daughter, Elizabeth Honsch. Robert, 78, is already serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, Marcia.

In 1995, the body of Elizabeth Honsch was found wrapped in sleeping bags and garbage bags behind a New Britain strip mall. The 16-year-old teenager was killed 'execution-style' with a single bullet shot to her head.

Her mother, Marcia Honsch, 53, was also killed in a similar manner. Marcia's body was discovered near the entrance to the Tolland State Forest in Massachusetts in October 1995, eight days after Elizabeth Honsch's body was found.

For nearly two decades, both women remained unidentified by the police and the case remained unsolved. Finally, in 2014, police were able to identify Elizabeth and Marcia, and link them to Robert.

By then, Robert was living with a new identity and a new family in Dalton, Ohio. As Robert Tyree, he married another woman and they had three children together.

While sentencing Robert for his crime, Judge Baldini commented:

“He has shown no remorse for his actions. These calculated, deliberate actions are reflective of a heartless individual without care for others or the laws of society.”

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Murder of Elizabeth Honsch remained unsolved for two decades

Since no missing persons report was filed for Elizabeth Honsch and her mother Marcia, investigators were not able to link the bodies to them. The bodies were referred to as Jane Doe for the longest time, a common term used for unidentified persons.

Prosecutors revealed how the murders took place during the trial. According to them, Honsch shot his daughter in the head and left the body in the parking lot of a shopping plaza in Connecticut in September 1995. The body was stuffed in a sleeping bag that was further wrapped in layers of several large garbage bags. Her mother's body was found approximately 40 miles away from hers, shot and left in a similar manner.

At the time of the murder, the Honsch family was living in Brewster, New York, which is about an hour away from where the bodies were found. Robert then lied to his relatives about his family and declared that they were moving abroad. He then went on to disappear for a few years, and later changed his identity.

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The New Britain State Attorney’s Office in Connecticut released their statement in this regard:

“Evidence established that shortly after the murder, Honsch went to the homes of family members and told them that Marcia and Elizabeth had gone to Australia ahead of him and he would be following them due to a job transfer. Shortly thereafter, Robert Honsch fled to South Africa and came back to the United States years later.”

Robert also rejected a plea deal earlier that would have reduced his largely symbolic life sentence to 60 years.