Lansdale Police Still Work To Find Killer Of Julie Barnyock, $10K Reward Still Available

LANSDALE, PA — Twenty-eight years ago Monday, an 18-year-old woman named Julie Barnyock went missing after taking a regional train from Philadelphia to Lansdale, only to be discovered dead a month later in a freight yard near a local train station in this Montgomery County town.

The killing has gone unsolved all this time, and Lansdale police continue to work to close the near three-decade-old cold case, with a $10,000 reward still available for any information leading to the killer's capture.

Three years ago, Montgomery County prosecutors reminded the public that the reward money was still in play, saying that police have never given up on the search for the young woman's killer.

"Our detectives continue to go over this case, looking for anything that could help us. Now we are again asking for the public's help. Someone knows something," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said back on Nov. 8, 2018, which marked the 25th anniversary of the disappearance and killing. "Please come forward with whatever piece of info about Julie's movements that day or anything someone might have seen that night at the train station." I've seen many old cases solved when someone comes forward with something that on the surface seems insignificant but it turns out to be a key puzzle piece in finding a murderer."

According to investigators, Barnyock had arrived at the Lansdale Train Station on the regional rain line from Philadelphia around 11:40 p.m. on Nov. 8, 1993. She had used a pay phone to call her parents to request a ride home, but when her father arrived at the station, he could not find his daughter.

Barnyock's parents reported her missing the next day to police in their hometown of New Britain Township, Bucks County, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office. It was less than a month later, on Dec. 2, 1993, that Lansdale police discovered Barnyock's body at the Lansdale SEPTA/Conrail freight yard. An autopsy determined that Barnyock had been killed, with blunt force head injury being the manner of death.

Barnyock was a graduate of Central Bucks West High School in Bucks County.

The case has captivated the public throughout the years. An episode of The Right Shoe Podcast spoke about Arthur Bomar, an orderly at Doylestown Hospital, as having been a possible suspect in the case, since he had worked at the facility at the same time when Barnyock was a patient there back in 1992. There was never enough evidence for police to charge Bomar in connection with the killing, although he did end up being being charged in the killing of another young woman. He was ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder in that other case, which was the killing of Aimee Willard.

Meanwhile, detectives are still looking to solve the Barnyock case all these years later, with investigators still asking the public for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in the matter.

Those with information about the Barnyock case urged to contact Lansdale Police at 215-368-1801 or the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, Detective division at 610-278-3368.