Letter may help solve girl's disappearance
It's been almost 15 years since high school freshman Alicia B. Markovich got into an argument with her father, John, and walked out of his Blairsville home in the spring of 1987. The teen-ager disappeared without a trace.
However, last October an anonymous letter was sent to John Markovich's home that gave 'chilling details' on how the 15-year-old girl was murdered and where her remains are buried, police said. The letter has sparked a renewed interest in the case.
'The glimmer of hope felt by investigators and her family after reading the letter was not for her safe return. Rather, it was a hope that the case could be solved and the remains of Alicia could be given a proper burial,' said state police Cpl. Kenneth Karas of Greensburg.
State police with the assistance of a cadaver dog from the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department searched an area along the Conemaugh River, just outside Blairsville, in an attempt to locate Markovich's remains without success. The precise area is detailed in the letter, but is being kept private by authorities who hope to search there again later this spring.
In recent weeks, two state policemen including Trooper Robert Valyo of Indiana drove 10 hours to New Bedford, N.H., where the letter was postmarked, and questioned a person whose name appeared on the hand-written envelope. However, that individual never knew Markovich, other members of her family, or even knew where Blairsville is located, according to police.
'It's been very frustrating,' said Valyo, who works out of the Indiana barracks.
The Indiana barracks has led the investigation in the case since it began April 26, 1987.
Police said John Markovich reported his daughter was missing the day after she left his home on April 27, 1987, and failed to return home.
Alicia Markovich resided with her mother, Marcie Smith, in Windber, Somerset County, and was to spend the Sunday with her father, according to Smith. The parents are divorced and Smith retained custody of Alicia.
Police said John Markovich told them that his daughter left the house after a heated discussion about her mother.
'The discussion was about her mother filing for additional child support. Alicia, according to her father, walked out without saying anything,' Karas said.
As the girl left, police said Markovich instructed her to be back by 8 p.m., but she did not respond and continued walking. She was wearing a white crop top with three stripes, jeans and white tennis shoes.
Alicia Markovich was a freshman at Windber High School, where she was a member of the school's track team.
'She was really just starting to get into running track and the training involved. She was an A, B student, had a lot of friends and liked to listen to a variety of music ... like most teen-agers,' her mother said.
'It (her disappearance) was really a shock then and it still is. You never think it will happen to you and you really can't describe what you go through,' she said.
Alicia's disappearance was initially treated as a runaway juvenile, but investigators soon feared she might have been murdered.
She was almost immediately entered as an endangered runaway with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and missing person fliers containing her photograph and description were distributed across Pennsylvania.
Smith also consulted a psychic in attempt to locate her daughter, but with no success.
Police have followed numerous leads on her whereabouts, searched abandoned mines and questioned family and friends, but nothing has panned out, Karas said.
No substantive information was ever uncovered on her whereabouts until the anonymous letter was received by John Markovich last fall, police said.
Smith fears the letter may have been a 'hoax,' created by a cruel person with a computer word processor and printer.
However, Alicia's father, John, said he believes the letter is the 'first, positive information there's been.'
'Whoever wrote it does not want to get caught, but wants the family to find closure in finding her remains. I'd like to go out there and try searching again with police using one of those special (mechanical) gravefinders to try to locate her remains,' he said.
Authorities said they will search the area again once the weather permits.
Police remain unsure if the confession contained in the typed letter, which was not signed, is authentic. However, they pointed out there are some accurate details about the disappearance.
Police agreed to release a portion of the letter's contents.
'What gave me the idea to contact you was when I saw by chance an Old Missing Persons flier posted on the side of a mail box at the Philadelphia Post Office about three weeks ago. The second time I saw it, it was like everything faded to gray, nothing seemed real for a long time, I had thought it all had been forever buried,' the letter stated.
'I had spent the last 13 years erasing and boarding up the name 'Alicia Markovich' in my mind and by seeing that, it had opened up the flood gates so to say, to a limitless sea of remorse, guilt, anxiety, inner sadness and depression,' the letter said.
Smith is hopeful that one day the case will be solved.
'I'd like to find out what happened. I think about her all the time,' she said.
Karas said police hope that whoever wrote the letter will write again with more details.
'Many times people who commit crimes are overcome with remorse and tell someone. We hope that anybody who knows what happened to Alicia will contact us with information,' he said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: On a regular basis, the Tribune-Review will publish a story about an unsolved homicide case in the region. Anyone with information about one of these cases should call state police at (724) 832-3288 and ask for Cpl. Kenneth Karas or Trooper Brian Zimmerman. People may also call Trooper Robert Valyo in Indiana at (724) 357-1960. Information received will be kept confidential.
