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Cheryl Van Horn’s daughter has been telling her mother’s story for decades. It hasn’t gotten any easier. Jessica Van Horn Washington was only 6 years old when her mother was murdred.
Her grandmother raised her. The family struggled talking about what happened. Cheryl Van Horn, third from left, in a photo with her children shortly before her death.
From left are: David Barndt, 5; Jessica Van Horn, 6; and Brian Barndt, 3. Courtesy of the Van Horn family As she became a teenager, Washington found newspaper clippings detailing the crime. Cheryl Van Horn was shot in the chest with a shotgun on Nov.
14, 1984. Her body was left with the garbage behind the former Sheraton Hotel in Downtown Easton. That’s where the Confluence development is now planned.
Washington has dealt with pain, denial, grief and anger her whole life. And she still has no answers. “You don’t know how many times I’ve shared her story,” Washington said.
Her mother’s lifestyle, her drug addiction and prostitution contributed to her death. Washington has made it her life’s mission to use her mother’s mistakes as an opportunity to teach others to avoid them. “I want people to know what she went through.
I want her death to be meaningful. I want it to have a purpose,” Washington said. And she’s motivated to keep retelling the story with the hope that someday she’ll find out who killed her mother.
“It’s a 40-year-old case, but if nobody keeps it alive it’s going to stay swept under the rug,” said Alice Xander. Xander’s brother fathered Cheryl Van Horn’s sons. The case has been reopened multiple times, according to Easton Police Chief Carl Scalzo.
Details were brought before an investigative grand jury in 2012. The police department took a hard look at the case about six years ago, Scalzo said. Witnesses were requestioned.
Scalzo said DNA tests unavailable back in the 1980s were tried. A cigarette butt found between Van Horn’s fingers when she died yielded no leads, Washington said. The case remains unsolved.
“It’s an unfortunate and sad case,” Scalzo said. “I feel for the family. Obviously, the fact that we can’t move forward doesn’t mean we don’t want to move forward.
It’s just that there’s nothing more we can do at this point.” Georganne Simpson remembers her mother, Deborah Dutter, conducted her own investigation into the murder. Cheryl Van Horn was Dutter’s sister.
Dutter compiled a file full of interviews and forensic observations. She shared it with Easton police investigators during the most recent probe. Simpson recalls how deflated her mother was after meeting at the Williams Family Restaurant with the officer leading the investigation.
No charges would be filed. Dejectedly, she handed her file to her daughter. “She said ‘Here.
You can have this,’” Sampson said. “My mom gave up at that point.” Dutter died last year .
When Washington came up from North Carolina to visit local family for Easter this year, Sampson handed over her mother’s file. Together Sampson and Washington took the file to the Northampton County District Attorney’s office and the Easton Police Department. Washington later talked to an Easton police investigator on the phone.
He heard her out, but she’s pessimistic the conversation won’t amount to anything. She’s frustrated but she won’t give up. She said it’s hard for others to understand why she won’t stop.
“For somebody to tell me ‘I know who you feel,’ You will never know how I feel. Never.” Washington said.
Like her mother, Washington struggled with drugs. She spent time in prison. She made bad choices.
Jessica Van Horn was raised by her grandmother, Gloria Van Horn. Photo from August 1998. Courtesy of the Van Horn family But she endured.
She went to college. She got a master’s degree in adult education. She works as a supervisor for a customer complaint line for a major computer company.
She has five children. She has a life and she has hope. Now that she’s an adult, Washington understands how hard it must have been for her late grandparents to move on after Cheryl Van Horn’s death and why they had a hard time sharing secrets with her.
Her mother succumbed to addiction, but she loved her children enough to know they weren’t safe with her. She arranged for them to live with family. She saw them daily and she refrained from drug use around them.
After she died, police found Christmas presents wrapped for the children in Van Horn’s apartment. “She was a loving person” despite her flaws, Sampson said. Cheryl Van Horn holds her son, Brian.
Her son David is in the foreground. Courtesy of Jessica Washington Washington put her mother’s demons to rest long ago. During the Easter visit, she and her brother, David, went to their mother’s grave.
She needed some time with her mother. Van Horn made bad choices. Her death was tragic.
But she deserves to be remembered, she deserves justice and preserving her memory continues to motivate Washington. When Washington meets someone struggling with drugs, she pulls out those old news articles about her mother. Overcoming her own drug habit and coming to terms with her mother’s death has made Washington a stronger, wiser resource for others who need help.
“I used to be ashamed of (my past) but I’m not anymore because it’s a part of me,” Washington said. Jessica Washington and David Barndt visit their mother’s grave during the spring of 2024 Courtesy of Jessica Washington Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.
com . Rudy Miller may be reached at [email protected] .
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