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CONYNGHAM TWP. — Modern technology may help the Pennsylvania State Police close a case long gone cold and bring some closure to a family.
State troopers teamed up with representatives of Master Locators Inc., of Glen Mills, on Saturday to search for the remains of Benjamin Krupinski, who disappeared in November 1968 while staying at the Rinehimer Inn on Lilly Lake Road.
Ground-penetrating radar was used to search underneath the basement floor of the building that used to be the Rinehimer Inn.
Master Locators Inc. Head Supervisor Keith Sareyka said the radar sends an electromagnetic signal into the ground and reflects off of any dense objects.
“What we’re hoping to find is some sort of indication that there is an air gap space, or void, that could be potentially where the dirt used to sit and the body may have been,” he said. “Obviously we don’t think the body may be there now, except for some bones. We’re looking for a void underneath the concrete where the body might have been buried.”
Krupinski was in his 60s and last seen at the Rinehimer when he disappeared. In 1976, a cane Krupinski always had with him was discovered at the Rinehimer, according to state police spokesman Tom Kelly.
“He rented a room from the Rinehimer’s back in the day when it was the Rinehimer Inn, and that’s where he was last seen and where he’s missing from,” Kelly said. “After that place was searched initially in 1968 no cane was located, but then 10 years later it was located, and the family said he would never go anywhere without that cane. There’s other theories and stories, but it all leads us back to that building.”
The property’s current owner, Jay Walp II, gave permission to the police to search the premises.
Results of the search will be sent to Master Locator’s engineering department for analysis. Whether or not there might be something under the concrete floor, which was installed after Krupinski’s disappearance, won’t be know for one to two weeks, according to Sareyka.
Kelly said Krupinski suffered from severe asthma from working in the coal mines, leading police to believe he could not have gone far from the property, especially without his cane.
Krupinksi’s two children — son, Tony Krupinski, of Wapwallopen, and daughter, Roseanne Briggs, of Nanticoke — were on hand for the search.
Tony, who was 22 years old at the time of his father’s disappearance, said that he hopes his father is found to bring closure to his family.
“It’d be a great thing to have closure,” he said. “My gut feeling is I believe we are going to find him.”
Briggs, who was 27 when her father disappeared, echoed her brother’s beliefs.
“We’re so grateful to the Walp family and the ground-penetrating radar company for volunteering to do this,” she said. “I hope that we do find him and do the right thing by putting him to rest and have peace.”
