Nancy Thompson holds a poster showing an age progression of her missing daughter. Police visited her Monday to inform her that her daughter, Laura, was murdered 17 years ago and that her accused killers are in custody.
Carol Colaizzi/New Castle (Pa.) News

CNHI News Service

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Nancy Thompson’s 17-year nightmare is over.

In 1993 her daughter Laura Lynn, 15, left her house one night to visit some friends and never returned.

On Monday, investigators stopped by Thompson's home to tell her Laura had probably been killed by two men. They had received a tip from the estranged wife of one of two suspects.

The accused are Joseph N. Marshall Jr., 39, of Pulaski Township, Pa., and Sean M. McDonough, 38, of Thibodaux, La. Both face multiple charges. Marshall is in custody and McDonugh is awaiting extradition.

Thompson recalled Marshall had been at their house one or two times previously to pick up Laura.

“She knew him,” Thompson said. “But the other guy, I didn’t know him at all.”

Laura’s mother described her daughter as a free-spirited, headstrong child who had a temper and always wanted the last word. “She was a redhead. She lived her life the way she wanted to live.”

Nevertheless, she never gave up hope her daughter would come home. “All this time, I felt in my heart that she was alive. I thought that someone was going to find her and bring her home."

Police got in a break in the case in July when a woman who was divorcing her husband became fearful for her safety. She told police her husband had participated in the murder of a red-haired teenager 17 years ago.

Shannon Marshall reported her husband had told her he had stabbed the girl in the back.

Information for this story was provided by the New Castle (Pa.) News.