All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

She sang softly under her breath. This was supposed to be a silent retreat, she shook her head at herself. She smiled, and paused her singing to finish the snack she'd grabbed from the kitchen. Luckily she saw none of the kitchen staff was closeby enough to hear her. She felt safe to pick the song back up. Surely, the Lord would forgive this tiny infraction, after all, she was singing in reverence about the beautiful day He had created.

She saw on the wall clock as she left the kitchen, that it was half passed ten in the morning. She had a good idea on how to use her time before lunch and midday prayer. As she closed the door to the motherhouse behind her, she smiled again, turning her face up to the bright June sun. God's creations were so awe-inspiring, and she couldn't wait to enjoy the secluded meditation area. It had quite a comfortable and peaceful bench that many of her sisters loved and frequently used. She looked around to make sure she was alone still, with no one in earshot, before resuming her songs of praise.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell,

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

All things bright...

Silent as the Grave

Sister Roberta Elam, known as Sister Robin, was never seen alive again. There are conflicting reports about how her body was found. Some reports claim partially clothed, others say her nude body was discovered just over three hours later, on June 13, 1977, by a groundskeeper. The 26-year-old postulant nun's remains were found in an area about 500 yards from the main buildings at the Mount St. Joseph Convent, in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Originally, Sister Robin was born in Minnesota, the oldest of four. She had previously been assigned to Illinois and then New Jersey. She had only recently been assigned to the Wheeling-Charleston's Catholic Diocese office, toward the end of 1976. She was visiting at the Convent, taking part in an eight-day-long retreat. In her normal, everyday life, she served her mission, coordinating religious programs for adults, which were offered and conducted by the diocese; stretching throughout the small, rural areas of West Virginia. The grounds of Mount St. Joseph extended to nearby Olgebay Park's Speidel Golf Course, just off Pogue Run Road in Wheeling. The property bordered mainly farms on all other sides.

The area where her body was discovered was near a bench, in a well-used area to meditate on nature. The area was popular, well-known and often frequented by nuns for prayer and silent contemplation.

In his hands...

Upon establishing the crime scene, the police conducted a rigorous search on the surrounding area and thorough search of neighboring and adjacent properties. They used both a coordinated human grid search as well as engaging the use of bloodhounds. Unfortunately this produced no viable leads or suspects.

One anonymous law enforcement source confirmed in an interview that:

The crime scene was hidden from sight from anyone on the golf course.

All of the golfers who played the Trent Jones course that day were investigated by authorities at the time these crimes took place.

During this survey of the location, several things were obvious to investigators. A nearby bench was overturned. She had been strangled and raped. The strangulation appeared to have been manually performed, with the killers bare hands on her throat. A later autopsy determined that the she may also have been dragged by her throat, a distance of "approximately 50 feet" before sexually assaulted, raped and throttled. The acting coroner also found evidence to support his conclusions, including bruises on both the neck and legs.

Police also branched out, speaking with investigatiors in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Ohio County Sheriff's Deputies thought there might have been a link, between their case and four murder/rape cases in their collegues' jurisdiction. Police in multiple locations examined case files, preparing notes on the potential linked homicides, and they then shared their information with each other. They were hoping to see if any similarities could be found between the Pennsylvania victims and Sister Robin's brutal rape and murder. They ruled that possibility out after learning the Washington County victims had not been strangled by hand. All of the Pennsylvania victims were strangled by ligature, made from their own clothing.

This was something of a letdown, as if the killer had crossed state lines, the comparatively small towns in Pennsylvania or West Virginia could have requested and received assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sadly, as no link could be established, the additional resources remain unavailable.

Habit

The best estimate for time of death was narrowed by the last time she was seen and then the discovery of her body, meaning death must have occurred between 10:30 that morning, June 13th, 1977 and 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the same day. This rape and murder had been committed in broad daylight, with occupied land and property in almost every direction. However, no one reported any noise or disturbance, no one reported any trespassers or hitchhikers in the area on the day of the murder.

Another unusual detail was that Sister Robin wasn't dressed as she normally might have been in her day-to-day role as a postulant nun. The day of her murder, she was wearing pants and a white shirt or blouse. Where normally she may have worn a habit, this was an important factor. Was she targeted because of who she was or what she represented? Or was this a vicious murder of a convenient victim? The answer, unfortunately, is unknown.

When Justice is Done...

Some officials have theorized that Sister Robin's murder could have been the work of a serial killer. There is some evidence to make this theory plausible. If this was a serial killer, the trail of victims could stretch as far as Greene County, Pennsylvania. Some people conclude that her civilian, or secular clothing means this was nothing more than a random act of brutal and senseless murder. At this stage, West Virginia State Police and the Ohio County Sheriff's Department have both devoted thousands of man hours and ample resources in their hunt for Sister Robin's killer.

At the time of the original investigation, leads and tips did come in, they just didn't pan out. Detective Norman Sayre said, in an article around the time of the initial push for more information, that more than 50 telephone calls from people submitting tips had been logged. They had police at the time checking on dozens of leads. Even in death, Sister Robin was bringing people together in her Father's house. Her funeral was attended by people from all faiths: Protestant, Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Atheist. All of them came to mourn her tragic death. Roberta "Sister Robin" Elam was laid to rest in Mount Calvary Cemetery, in the area reserved for nuns.

In the Winter House

At the time of the murder, a sketch was released that, according to one article:

"... depicted a white man with dirty black hair, full eyebrows, and a beard and mustache. A deputy with the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office also was told there was a faded-blue automobile with bumper stickers parked along nearby Pogue Run Road, a car that was never found. No motive has ever been established."

The West Virginia State Police Cold Case Investigations Unit and the Ohio County Sheriff's Department continues to work to bring justice to this case, frozen in history. Fred Conners founder of the Cold Case Taskforce maintained in a recent The Intelligencer article, that this is not a "cold case", because it has remained open and has been actively investigated by multiple agencies, continually since 1977

Recent developments are encouraging, and several law enforcement agencies are looking forward to having this investigation heat back up. New, untested forensic material may have been identified on the preserved evidence. The State Police as well as the Ohio County Sheriff's Department are now more hopeful than ever, that they will catch Sister Robin's murderer through advances in DNA analysis. There is some discussion about utilizing the new familial genealogy databases to identify families that may contain the suspect.

The DNA profile, described by one investigator as "very good DNA" has been uploaded to CODIS. They have already used that profile to eliminate dozens of potential suspects, such as golfers who were at the Speidel Park Course that day.

In the meantime, they still ask if someone has information that will help solve this case, please get in touch.

Sources:

https://www.wvsp.gov/PublishingImages/Cold Case/robertaelam.jpg

https://weelunk.com/sister-robin-cold-case-part-2/

http://robertaelam.blogspot.com/2010/09/raped-murdered-on-june-13-1977.html?m=1

https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2018/10/true-crime-in-the-ohio-valley-seeking-justice-for-sister-robin/