HARRISBURG, PA — An Indiana County jury convicted 78-year-old Ronald Lee Weiss of first-degree murder Thursday in the 1978 killing of 16-year-old Barbara Bruzda, returning the case to a guilty verdict nearly five decades after the teenager’s death and after Weiss’s earlier conviction was vacated by a federal court.
The jury returned the verdict following a four-day trial, according to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Weiss faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, with sentencing scheduled for Oct. 30.
Weiss had previously been convicted of first-degree murder in Bruzda’s death and sentenced to death. A federal district court later vacated that conviction, leading to the new trial.
Prosecutors argued that Weiss killed Bruzda by striking her with a tire iron and then left her body in a ditch.
Evidence presented at trial placed Weiss among the last people seen with Bruzda in October 1978, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Prosecutors presented evidence that the two played pool at a bar before attending a party.
Bruzda’s body was discovered March 20, 1979, in a ditch along a gravel road several miles from both the party location and Weiss’s home.
Witness testimony also indicated that Weiss returned home after the party with blood covering his vehicle, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“This is the second set of jurors who heard all of the facts in this horrific case and came to the identical conclusion,” Attorney General Dave Sunday stated following the verdict.
The retrial brings another conviction in a case stretching back almost 50 years, though Weiss’s punishment will differ from the death sentence imposed after his previous conviction. Under the first-degree murder verdict returned Thursday, he faces mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Evan Lowry and Senior Deputy Attorney General Kara Rice prosecuted the case.
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