A man of honor

Glenn Hall (photo by Kevin Kalunian)

It was 2021 when we first met retired Pennsylvania State Trooper Glenn Hall at a breakfast place in downtown Butler, Pennsylvania. His long-time colleague, Danny McKnight, rounded up a group of retired troopers who helped him crack the 1965 disappearance of a 15-year old girl. It was the coldest of cold cases by the time they got involved with the case in 1987 but they were determined both to find the child and bring her killer to justice.

They did both.

I was with my husband in the nearby community of Saxonburg that week to give a talk at the library about my second book, The Ghost: The Murder of Police Chief Greg Adams and the Hunt for His Killer, and hoped to talk with McKnight some more about the 1965 case. I had met him earlier while researching The Ghost and he had mentioned a few of the other cases in his career. Intriguing and haunting cases. But it was the disappearance of a teenager named Patty Desmond and how they were able to find her that stood out.

McKnight insisted the investigation was not one he conducted alone. It was a team effort and he quickly set up that morning meeting with others who worked the case.

I am so grateful he did.

Lawrence Glenn Hall, was one of those retirees.

In my interviews with Glenn both in Butler and by phone, I learned about a man committed to family, his community, and his job. He was one of eight growing up on a 30-acre farm in Cabot, Pennsylvania, worked as meat cutter then joined the Pullman-Standard railroad car plant before becoming a Pennsylvania State Trooper. He was a teenager when he met his wife, Carol, and he was devoted to her (they married 64 years ago) and their three children.

It was in the field, as he and fellow trooper retiree Ted Swartzlander returned to the scene where the child was finally found, that I could see how the case never left his mind. He was older, with the aches of aging, but you could envision the youthful trooper of decades past as he trudged through the woods to locate where Patty was found. He - like others who worked that case - never forgot her.

After the book, Child Last Seen, came out in 2023, I spoke with Glenn a few times. His voice was sharp and he downplayed the health concerns that came with time.

When my cell phone rang recently, the caller ID came up as Glenn Hall. We hadn't spoken in more than a year and I hoped all was fine.

It was his daughter on the phone, breaking the news that he had passed.

He was 81 years old.

His obituary noted that when he was born in his family's home he weighed just three pounds and triumphed over many odds to live a fulfilling life.

His obit noted his sharp wit, his retirement work as a police officer in the schools and that he could recite the Pennsylvania State Police Call of Honor word-for-word until his last days.

What I will remember is seeing his determined stride through the woods on a summer morning, a man who made a difference in his community. A man who helped find justice for a young girl.