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Police mum on murder case in Tioga County

LIBERTY – State police continue to work on a murder case that took the life of an elderly man and left his wife fighting for her life last month but are keeping any new information “close to the vest.”

Trooper Todd Wagaman, of the Mansfield Barracks, said Tuesday that “we like to think progress is being made every day” in the case, but it is “nothing we can make public at this time.”

“The next time we get an update will be if and when we make an arrest,” he said. “It wouldn’t be prudent to discuss where are at in the case,” he added.

Oliver Litzelman, 82, of 3872 Route 414, was murdered by an unknown person police described as a “skinny white woman” Sept. 13, after he and his wife Edwina, 81, opened the door to the stranger who said she was a Litzelman descendant doing genealogical research into the family tree.

Edwina ended up in the hospital with stab wounds and Oliver was shot to death.

Edwina Litzelman was released from the hospital late last month, but no further information is available about her condition or whereabouts.

Trooper Michael Knight , public information officer of the Montoursville Barracks, said police are “still waiting for evidence to be processed, and once that all gets done we will have a more definitive direction.”

Knight would not say what evidence has been recovered, only that it “has to be sent to lab, they need to test it and send the results back to local barracks.”

“This is not an unusual amount of time. Probably we will get an analysis some time this week, and that an update could be released as early as next week or it could be several weeks.”

In the meantime, Knight reminded residents to be “leery about who they let into their home.”

“There might be someone out there who will do a home invasion,” he said.

Tioga County District Attorney George Wheeler added, “there will be something when we get to the point where we are ready to charge someone.”

“It will be laid out in the affidavit but I don’t have a timeline for that, all I can say is the investigation is continuing,” he said.

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