VIRGINIA BEACH –The man police say killed two women at the Oceanfront in 1973 has been extradited from New York.
Ernest Broadnax, was booked into the Virginia Beach Jail Wednesday charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of rape.
The 80-year-old man of St. Albans, New York, is being held without bond, according the online jail booking information.
The charges are in connection with the 1973 killings of Janice Pietropola and Lynn Seethaler, both 19, at the Oceanfront.
Broadnax was arraigned on the charges Thursday afternoon.
Pietropola and Seethaler came to Virginia Beach from the Pittsburgh area for summer vacation. They were staying at a cottage at 10th St and Atlantic Avenue.
They had rented a cottage about a block from the Atlantic Ocean.
Concerned when the two 19-year-olds missed their checkout time, an employee opened the door of their rented cottage, peered inside and discovered the bodies on June 30, 1973.
Pietropola was shot three times in the right side of the head with a .22-caliber gun. She also was raped and strangled.
Seethaler was shot twice in the right side of the head and face. Her neck was slashed with a wine bottle, and she also was strangled.
The case turned cold after exhaustive measures failed to positively identify a suspect.
Every available detective was put on the case. There were hundreds of interviews and thousands of communiques with police elsewhere.
During their week in Virginia, Seethaler and Pietropola met several men on the beach and had gone on dates. On two occasions, they invited some of their new acquaintances back to the cottage for beers.
The contents of the women’s purses had been dumped on the cottage floor, but robbery never was considered a motive.
Police didn’t know if the killer knew the women, or if the victims were picked at random.
Detectives assigned to the Virginia Beach Police Cold Case Unit followed up on leads that came in and sought out advanced forensic technology, “determined to bring justice for the victims and their families,” police said.
During their week in Virginia, Seethaler and Pietropola met several men on the beach and had gone on dates. On two occasions, they invited some of their new acquaintances back to the cottage for beers.
The contents of the women’s purses had been dumped on the cottage floor, but robbery never was considered a motive.
Police didn’t know if the killer knew the women, or if the victims were picked at random.
Detectives assigned to the Virginia Beach Police Cold Case Unit followed up on leads that came in and sought out advanced forensic technology, “determined to bring justice for the victims and their families,” police said.
In the fall of 2018, VBPD Cold Case detectives, with the support of the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, began aggressively researching a strong lead they had received in the case, which led to Broadnax’s arrest April 8.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
