Candace Clothier's decomposed body was found inside a black cloth bag along the Neshaminy Creek in Northampton in April, 1968.
It wasn't until 2005 that police got a tip that helped them crack the case. A Northeast Philadelphia woman told them she'd given the bag to her husband the night Clothier disappeared.
"Two males were present in the vehicle and, after her husband communicated with them, he requested her laundry bag which she provided," said Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler.
Clothier vanished after leaving her Torresdale home on Leon Street to meet friends in Mayfair.
As she walked to the trolley investigators believe the two men, one of whom she knew, drove up and offered a ride.
Investigators believe the two men brought the 16-year-old to what was then a popular hangout on Decatur Road. It was there, police believe, at least one of the men either injected Clothier or provided her with a powerful narcotic that eventually killed her.
Police say the suspects dumped her body off Chain Bridge on Route 232. Several fishermen found the bag down the Neshaminy Creek six weeks later.
Authorities say all of the suspects are now dead, and names are not being released.
"They will never have the opportunity to defend themselves and it would accordingly be wrong to disclose their names," said Heckler.
Investigators say the announcement is a great relief to Clothier's only living direct relative, her sister.
It's also closure for a department that's been investigating for 42 years.
