The investigation into the murder of Shannon Schieber enters its fourth month with few clues and no arrests. Tomorrow will mark the three-month anniversary of the murder of Wharton doctoral student Shannon Schieber -- an event most members of the University community would prefer not to commemorate -- and police have yet to apprehend the killer or even name a suspect. While Penn has been far from immune to the city's ills, including violent crime, the Schieber case stands out among recent tragedies for the relative length of its criminal investigation. In the majority of recent homicides and homicide attempts involving members of the University community, the culprits have been caught in a matter of hours or within several weeks, but none have gone on for so long as the Schieber case. Schieber, 24, was strangled to death in her Center City apartment May 7 at approximately 2 a.m. in an apparent robbery. The Chevy Chase, Md., native was discovered 12 hours later after failing to report to work or meet her brother for a scheduled lunch. Suspicion initially fell on Yuval Bar-Or, 28, a fellow Wharton doctoral student who Schieber had told friends was stalking her, but DNA tests showed that blood at the crime scene did not match his, effectively removing him from consideration. But Inspector Jerrold Kane, head of the Philadelphia Police's homicide division, said that at this point in the investigation, time is not the prevalent factor. "Time is of the essence at the very beginning," he said. "But just because it's three months [since Schieber's murder] doesn't mean that an arrest won't be made." Lt. Ken Coluzzi, who is leading the investigation for the PPD, noted that the department's efforts so far have not yielded any tangible results. "Nothing positive to note at this point, I'm sorry to say," he said, adding though that "information on cases can pop up at any time." Though both investigators and members of Schieber's family initially said that they believed Schieber knew her attacker, police have recently begun to focus on the robbery aspect of the crime, hoping that the investigation will yield clues to the murder. Several items -- including a necklace, wooden pen set, a Canon camera and a large number of compact discs -- were discovered to be missing from Schieber's apartment on the 200 block of South 23rd Street. In late June, police department officials released pictures of several of the stolen items, hoping that one or more would be recognized in a pawn shop. A $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer has also been announced, without any takers so far. But James Fyfe, a criminologist at Temple University, doubts that the stolen items will lead police to the killer in this particular case. "It's difficult to link mass-produced items to a crime," he said. "How would you tell one Rolling Stones CD from another?" Instead, Fyfe emphasized the role that physical evidence -- such as the blood stains that ultimately cleared Bar-Or -- may have in solving the crime through genetic testing. "The chances of solving these things in the past was very low," he said. "One of the things that has happened in the last several years is the growth of DNA technology." To that end, Kane noted that individuals arrested for violent or sex-related crimes are being investigated for a possible link to Schieber. "It's usually what someone leaves at the scene of the crime rather than what they take," Fyfe said. "As long as there is some physical evidence, there is some chance." But due to the nature of this crime, finding the culprit has not been as easy as in the past. The last several murders and attempted murders involving Penn students and staff have taken place during out-of-doors robberies, leading often to instantaneous arrests -- or at least lucky breaks within the first several weeks. When fifth-year mathematics graduate student Al-Moez Alimohamed, 27, was shot in the chest at 48th and Pine streets in late August 1994 during a robbery attempt, four teenagers were immediately apprehended by plainclothes Philadelphia Police officers who witnessed -- but were not quick enough to prevent -- the crime. A fifth teenager turned himself in to police the following morning. Three of the defendants were ultimately convicted for murder, while two were imprisoned on lesser robbery and conspiracy charges. Two years later, in the midst of a fall crime wave, a University researcher was killed and a Penn student was wounded in two separate incidents. Biochemist Vladimir Sled, 38, was stabbed five times during a robbery at 43rd Street and Larchwood Avenue on Halloween night, 1996. Sled intervened as Eugene Harrison attempted to steal a purse belonging to Sled's fiancee, Cecilia Hagerhall. In the struggle, Bridgette Black, one of Harrison's companions at the time, fatally stabbed Sled. Security cameras caught Harrison using Hagerhall's ATM card hours after the murder, leading to his arrest three weeks later. Black and Yvette Stewart, who drove the getaway car, were arrested soon after. After cooperating with investigators, Black was found guilty of third-degree murder and sentenced to five to 12 years in prison. Stewart was also convicted of third-degree murder, while Harrison -- who initiated the robbery -- was acquitted. Both Harrison and Stewart await sentencing for the robbery of a Philadelphia Daily News driver committed earlier the day of Sled's murder. And in the case of Patrick Leroy -- the then-College senior shot in the back while fleeing a robber at 40th and Locust streets on September 26, 1996, justice was even more swift in coming. Within an hour, Philadelphia Police officers arrested the gunman, 20-year-old Chris Crawford of Wilmington, Del. Albert Bandy was arrested five days later for his involvement in the incident. Both pled guilty to all charges the following February. For their part, officers in the Schieber case are concerned -- but not overly preoccupied -- with the long duration of the investigation. "We don't like when cases go too long," Coluzzi said. "It's scary when cases go this long because you want to solve it for the family and all." "We're continuing to have a decent amount of manpower on the case," Kane emphasized. "The police are hopeful that an arrest will be made."
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