Lydia Glenn

News Editor

lmg5921@psu.edu

Recently, in early February of 2022, police were able to identify the man who abducted, raped and murdered a young girl in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. 

The heinous acts committed against this 9-year-old girl shocked the small community nearly six decades ago. 

Marise Ann Chiverella was abducted on the morning of March 18, 1964 as she made her way to school. Later, that same afternoon, her body was found in a nearby waste coal pit. 

Authorities told the press that she has been raped and strangled to death. 

For 58 years, the case was unsolved. It turned into a cold case within the Hazleton Police Department. 

With the development of DNA technology, police exhumed the body of the thought to be assailant and extracted his DNA to test against the DNA in evidence. 

His DNA precisely matched DNA left on the jacket of Marise. 

The man who was a perfect match was identified as James Paul Forte. Forte was a bartender who had a long record of violent sexual assault. 

Police stated that he was 22 at the time he assaulted and strangled Marise. He died in 1980 at the age of 38 which is possibly the reason why it took police so long to solve the case. 

Authorities also stated that Forte had no connection to the little girl or the Chiverella family. 

Generations of investigators pursued Marise’s case in the hopes to close it, but Forte’s name did not pop up until 2020. 

Eric Schubert, a college student, and expert in genetic genealogy, had volunteered to work the case and donate his knowledge. He put together an extensive family tree that helped investigators narrow their lengthy suspect list. 

State police recently made an announcement at a news conference to address recent updates. 

The investigator who first handled Marise’s case was there along with her four sisters and much extended family. 

Marise’s family had a chance to speak at the conference, calling Marise a shy, sweet girl who loved to play the organ and aspired to be a nun. 

Marise’s sister, Carmen Marie Radtke stated, “We have so many precious memories of Marise. At the same time, our family will always feel the emptiness and sorrow of her absence. We will continue to ask ourselves, what would have been, what could have been?”

Marise’s parents have sadly passed away since her murder, but Carmen said that their parents would be happy they finally found justice.  

State police Cpl. Mark Baron, the lead investigator in Marise’s case said he believed Marise’s case to be the fourth-oldest cold case in the United States to be solved by using genetic genealogy. It was also the oldest cold case in Pennsylvania. 

Baron also had a chance to speak at the conference and called it, “an important day for Marise’s family and for a community that has long been haunted by her slaying.” 

“It’s a vivid memory for everybody who lived through this, and it’s a vivid memory for everybody who grew up in this area,” Baron said. “What happened to her ushered in a change in this community. Whether you like it or not, the way you lived changed after March 18 of 1964 in Hazleton.”