Ex-husband's death won't close missing Westmoreland woman's case
State police won't close the books on the unsolved disappearance and presumed murder of a Westmoreland County woman 23 years ago, even though the chief suspect -- her former husband -- died on Saturday.
Donald A. Groomes, 78, former owner of Groomes Transit Co. in East Huntingdon, died in his Connellsville home surrounded by relatives, including his second wife, Janie, according to family members.
Groomes, who had owned the well-known bus company for 33 years, had been dogged for years over the mysterious disappearance of his first wife, Ada Jane Groomes, 54, of Scottdale on Oct. 7, 1988.
"He definitely was a person of interest in that case," said Trooper Steve Limani, spokesman at the Greensburg barracks. "It remains an ongoing homicide investigation that has not been solved. Until we know who did it, it will remain open."
Limani said investigators are hopeful that someone will step forward with information.
"Maybe there was something in the past where someone who knew something chose not to come forward. Who knows what might happen at this point?" Limani said.
The Groomeses had been married 34 years and had been separated for about two years when Ada Jane disappeared. In the midst of a bitter split marked by alleged acts of violence, Ada Jane had filed protection from abuse orders in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Shortly before she vanished, Ada Jane sued her husband over control of the business.
According to police, Ada Jane planned to travel to Butler that day to help her mother, Jeanette Cox, and to celebrate the mother's birthday. The tall blond was looking forward to square dancing at the Fort Ligonier Days celebration the following weekend, family members told police.
Police reported she was seen that morning driving to work at Groomes Transit on Route 819 and then had her vehicle inspected. According to an unidentified witness, there was an argument over the inspection.
Police were able to trace some of her later movements. They said she drove to Greensburg to pick up a $20,000 check owed the bus company by the Westmoreland County Intermediate Unit. In addition to adult bus tours, the company provided transportation to several schools in Westmoreland and Fayette counties.
When Ada Jane arrived at the office, she discovered her husband had picked up the check. She returned to the bus garage to confront him, but he was working elsewhere.
Police said Ada Jane was never seen again.
Seven days later, her daughter, Linda Rumbaugh of Dawson, reported her missing to Scottdale police. Borough police later turned over the investigation to state police.
Donald Groomes told police he last saw his wife between 11 a.m. and noon Oct. 7, 1988. He claimed she had left in a 30-foot mobile home for Arizona, where she planned to join a cult.
Police never filed criminal charges against Groomes. In 1997, Westmoreland County Judge Gilfert Mihalich approved a petition filed by the couple's second-eldest daughter, Janice, declaring her mother dead and giving Donald Groomes control over an estimated $1 million in corporate assets.
Police searched for Ada Jane in ponds, swamps, creeks and rivers in Westmoreland and Fayette counties. A mobile home the couple owned, reported missing around the time of her disappearance, was recovered in Tampa in 1989.
The disappearance was the focus of a state grand jury investigation in 1992.
On Monday, Donald Groomes' widow, Janie Groomes, said her husband of more than 20 years "never worried" about the investigation or what people in the community said.
"He didn't worry about that kind of stuff," Janie Groomes said. "He knew he was innocent. ... There were never any charges filed."
She said her late husband loved his family, helping children and flying.
"He was a pilot and flight instructor, and he flew helicopters for Penn Line and Asplundh Aviation," Janie Groomes said. "When he graduated from high school (Freeport High School in 1951), he wrote in the yearbook that it was his dream to own an airplane and fly, and he did that and more."
She said the couple -- with Groomes as pilot -- flew to Alaska twice and around the United States and Canada numerous times.
"We had traveled all over Europe and to Russia, too," she said.
Groomes started the bus business after he suffered an injury in an oil drum explosion in 1972.
"He always liked to take care of children. There were many cases over the years where he would know some child's family needed help and he would have me order heating fuel for them ... or he would give them money for groceries or provide gifts for children at Christmas," Janie Groomes said.
She recalled an incident in the early 1970s, when her husband rescued a family from a burning vehicle along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He received a heroism award from the National Safety Council.
"He was wonderful, generous and caring. He was the love of my life," she said.
