Donald Ruby

Once again I have come across a case that as I sit down to put things together I am unsure what my opinion is on what occurred in the case. There is not a lot of information out there on this case and I was forced to rely partly on comments made on some websites to which I will, as always, let you, the reader know when things like this occur. Part of the reason that there is not a lot of information about the crime itself or the victim is the fact that the person who was convicted of the crime, Donald Ruby, was not only exonerated but was said to be “factually innocent.” There is still a dispute on that apparently both from the public and from law enforcement.

On May 27, 1984 in Perry County Pennsylvania a cardboard box was found along the shore of the Juniata River. Inside the box was the torso of a woman. The legs had been removed at the knees; the arms had been cut off at the shoulder and the head had been removed. Neither the limbs or head have ever been found. About 10 months later there was a small article in the local newspaper about how the torso was preparing to be buried without identification when authorities received a phone call. The call was from a woman, that is clear, but it is not clear if that woman claimed the body could be that of her sister, sister-in-law or ex-sister-in-law, as I have seen all three claims. The woman claimed that thirty-one year old Edna Posey had been missing for about that period of time. The torso ended up being identified as Posey through scars and birthmarks found that allegedly matched her.

Many say that this was the start of investigators having “tunnel vision” and focusing in on Donald Ruby. Ruby had been a scoutmaster for many years and Edna Posey's son, Randy, had been a member of his troop. Edna Posey was said to have “fought mental illness and alcoholism for years” and sometime in 1983 she had decided to go into treatment and gave guardianship of her twelve-year old son to Donald Ruby and his wife. People who knew Edna said that, while a resident of Maryland herself, she had gone to Ruby's home just days before her body was found to get her son back.

The story goes that on May 25^th Edna went to Donald Ruby's home. Her son says that night the two of them fell asleep on the couch together. At some point in the middle of the night he said a loud noise woke him up and he noticed his mother was no longer on the couch. It took a year and a half but in September of 1986 Donald Ruby was arrested and charged with first degree murder. His trial was conducted in February of 1987. At the trial Randy testified about not seeing his mother on the couch that first night but he also testified to some other things. He stated that there were two occasions where he and Ruby had been “engaged in wrestling matches” and he believed Ruby had become “sexually aroused.” He also stated that Ruby once took him to an adult bookstore and allegedly asked him once if he could take pictures of him in the nude. The state called an FBI agent to the stand who profiled Ruby as a pedophile based on Randy's testimony “and the fact that Ruby had been a longtime scoutmaster.” It was said that the defense did not object to this witness or this testimony. A forensic pathologist stated that the autopsy indicated that Edna Posey had died between 18 and 30 hours before her body was found, which was not long after going to Ruby's house.

It is unclear whether Donald Ruby testified in his own defense but at some point he had told investigators that he had taken Edna Posey to buy clothes on the 26^th and then dropped her off at a convenient store in Middletown about one that afternoon saying that she said she was meeting someone. He claimed that was the last that he had seen her and that he had believed that she “had left and gone back to Florida where she had been in a psychiatric facility.” What is known is that Donald's wife, Leigh testified at the trial. She claimed she was with Donald and Edna during the shopping day but, prosecutors were able to prove that she was lying because they had obtained her time card from work proving she had been there all day. She would later obviously have to admit that she was not with her husband but said she thought she was “helping” him.

There was not a lot of forensics, but then again it was 1987. There were some questions about the box that the torso had been found in but while there was apparently some sort of evidence that Ruby had used the product that came in the box, it also appears it was very common. The jury convicted Donald Ruby and on March 31, 1987 he was given a life sentence.

The case was appealed and in March of 1992 the court vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial. Something here happened that I had not seen before, at least not in the manner in which I found it. I have talked a lot lately online about what the function of the appeal courts as people are discussing the fact that both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have filed notice that they plan to appeal the verdict in their case. The general rule when it comes to appeals is that the court decides if decisions made by the judge were accurate and legal AND that the attorney at the trial had to object to the ruling. Appeals are not used to bring forth any new evidence, that is a whole different part of the courts. Since I did not see the actual appeal papers I cannot say for certain but I believe that the appeal in this case may have also included the claim of ineffective counsel. I say this because the reason the court vacated the conviction was based on the fact that they believed the FBI agent should have never testified and told the jury that he had basically profiled Donald Ruby as a pedophile by saying he “fit the profile,” for two reasons. The first is that apparently he had come to this conclusion based just on Randy's testimony and the fact that Ruby had been a scoutmaster. The other reason was that Ruby had never been charged, or aside from Randy's testimony accused, much less convicted of being a pedophile and telling the jury this information “cast a light on him that he could have committed the murder.” It was noted that the defense attorney had not objected to this, and that was noted which is why I believe it is possible that ineffective counsel was also argued.

In May of 1993 Donald Ruby went back on trial. This time the defense had not just additional evidence, but evidence that disputed the evidence presented by the state. A new expert testified that based on pictures that were taken at the time that the torso had been found and an analysis of blowfly eggs the time of death was not 18-30 hours before the body was found as had been testified in the first trial but closer to just a few hours prior. They also determined this based on the dew that was absent from the “swath” or path left when the box had been slid down the hill to its resting place. It appears that they were able to determine that Donald Ruby was at his home some ninety miles away at that time. Other evidence presented by the defense was DNA from semen recovered from the torso. It was said that there was evidence of three different men, and none belonged to Donald Ruby. I will touch on this again in a bit because there has been controversy about whether these samples have ever been tested again, or placed into the CODIS system. On May 20, 1993 Donald Ruby was acquitted and released after serving more than six years in prison.

It was said that Ruby's second trial “was one of the first, if not the first, to use DNA in a criminal case in central Pennsylvania.” At the time of his release it was said that Ruby had “lost his family” and did not have a “penny to his name.” I did find something that indicated that he had stated he had no plans to sue the state for wrongful imprisonment and I have never seen anything that he has. This brings me to comments that I found on websites. I may have actually found this case after watching Forensic Files although admittedly I do not remember the episode. I did see comments relating to this episode that stated the show had if not eluded to, flat out called Edna Posey a “tramp.” It seems there was a lot of victim blaming in this case, at least after Ruby's exoneration and the presence of multiple contributors of semen. It was also on one of these sites that I found a comment that was allegedly written by Randy Posey, Edna's son.

According to the poster that claimed to be Randy Posey, and I cannot confirm or dispute it was actually him, investigators have told him that the DNA semen samples were fairly degraded and there was not a lot left after the initial testing. He claimed that investigators indicated they did not want to waste what was left unless or until they were absolute certain they would get a match. That being said, I understand that, however what I am confused about is why the results from the initial tests have not been provided and compared. It was also eluded to the fact that they possibly were inconclusive. The poster claimed that there was still a possibility that the semen could have belonged to Ruby. Keep in mind that this was not something presented in court, or even a newspaper article, but from an ordinary citizen on the Internet.

Some may agree and/or believe that Donald Ruby is a pedophile but I cannot say that I believe this with certainty. I need more information than what I have found here or was even determined for me to decide how I feel about this. I do agree with the courts that it should not have been entered into the trial. The theory by the prosecution was that Ruby was infatuated with Randy and wanted to prevent Edna from taking him and while I admit that a few things that he stated did not sit well with me but again I need more information. He never claimed that Ruby had molested him. It simply said that he “believed” Ruby got “sexually aroused” when they wrestled a few times. Taking him to an adult bookstore was inappropriate but in the same respect was maybe just a stupid move. Then there is the issue where Randy alleged that Donald Ruby asked to take naked pictures of him. I want to know when these statements were made to authorities and were they all made at once. Did Randy believe Donald Ruby had done something to his mother and started saying things and when one thing did not seem to get anywhere, did he add something else? Now, I do question where Randy was on May 26^th when Donald claims that he took Edna shopping. It was a Saturday so one could not say he was in school. Donald's wife was at work. But, this was his mother, why did he not go with Donald and Edna? He was clearly old enough to stay home alone but would he have wanted to considering he had apparently not seen his mother in quite some time?

Did the state have the right person and blew the investigation and the trials? Did the investigators, and then later the prosecution have tunnel vision? Were they just trying to close out the case? For that matter was the body even that of Edna? I mean someone told investigators about a scar and birthmarks and from my understanding this was the only thing used for identification. Did Donald, or anyone he knew have the skill or skills to dismember a body? That is not something that is easily done. Was there semen of three different men found on the torso and if so why has this not been put through CODIS and at least looked into? All of these things seem possible to me and in my opinion the blame for the fact that a woman was obviously murdered lies with the state and the investigators.

I do not care if Edna Posey slept with every “Tom, Dick and Harry”; I do not care if she had mental issues or was an alcoholic. She did not cut her own limbs and head off, nor did she deserve to be found the way that she did. Had she been found in tact and in the woods, or in a field with a clear cause of death I think one could possibly believe that it was a suicide or an accidental death but the fact that she was dismembered means that someone else did that act. And, just like any other victim she deserves justice. If that person was not Donald Ruby then that should be known not just for her family but so the person is punished and Donald Ruby no longer under suspicion.