Mom, Adopted Daughter Found Shot
RITA MENSINGER COMMITTED A MURDER-SUICIDE, SAYS DISTRICT ATTORNEY. THEY WERE FOUND IN A VAN AT A DUPONT PLAZA. WOMAN HAD BEEN SOUGHT SINCE SHOOTING OF HER HUSBAND.
Jerry Lynott
The Times Leader
DUPONT - The weeklong search for a Lehigh County woman wanted in the shooting of her husband ended Friday near a truck stop where police found the bodies of the woman and her 11-year-old daughter dead of gunshot wounds to the head inside the family van.
Rita Mensinger, 57, shot her biological granddaughter Chelsea, who she adopted as her daughter, and then herself with a .357-caliber Magnum revolver in a lot at the Petro Stopping Center off state Route 315, said Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas.
An autopsy done Friday determined the shootings were an apparent murder/suicide, said Luzerne County Deputy Coroner Curt Swanson. The cause of death was single gunshot wounds to the head.
The gun was the same one Mensinger used on her husband Charles, 49, in their Whitehall Township home the night of Sept. 15 before she fled and picked up her daughter at a friend's house five or six miles away, police said.
Charles Mensinger was listed in good condition Friday at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem.
Police recovered the gun and a note from the van, but Lupas would not disclose what the note said.
``We can't come up with any reason to believe they were here for any particular reason other than a random stop. We're not aware of any ties to the area,'' Lupas said.
Whitehall Township Police Detective Lt. Gerry Procanyn would not comment on what prompted the shooting. He said the Mensingers had lived in the township for 30 years and one prior police call to their home was not for domestic violence.
The detective said Rita Mensinger shot her husband and remained inside for nearly two hours. ``She was waving the gun around like this,'' Procanyn said, making a swinging motion with his right hand.
``She did not render any aid,'' Procanyn said, adding her husband thought she was going to call for help. Before she left she disconnected the phone, he said.
Charles Mensinger was able to get into his tractor-trailer after being left for dead by his wife and drive it down an alley near their home to signal for help, Procanyn said. ``He hung on the air horn.''
The detective said Charles Mensinger would normally blow the horn as a signal to neighbors he was coming down the alley in his truck.
Police were looking for Mensinger when the van was discovered. She faced attempted criminal homicide, aggravated and simple offense and weapons charges. The Lehigh Valley Crime Stoppers also offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to her arrest.
``We were trying to get her on an unlawful flight-to-avoid-prosecution warrant,'' Procanyn said. ``Every agency that we were able to contact to attempt to assist the Whitehall Police Department and other agencies in locating her was utilized.''
The van might have been in the unpaved lot near the truck stop entrance since early this week. Dupont Police Chief Anthony DeMark said a truck driver noticed it Wednesday. Seeing the van still there on Friday, the driver approached it, saw the bodies inside and contacted police.
Lupas said the girl's body was found in a seat and the mother in a different location in the van. There was no sign of a struggle. Investigators are trying to determine whether Mensinger and the girl entered the truck stop.
Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7237.