1713
The incorporation of the township dates to 1713, more than fifty years before the American Revolution.
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FILE 405 / 13 July 2023 / 178 MIN / full
This is Upper Marion township, Pennsylvania ... This is in Montgomery County. about 0:06:33
The incorporation of the township dates to 1713, more than fifty years before the American Revolution.
about 0:06:42Townships were required at that point to pay six shillings to the Pennsylvania legislature for licences.
about 0:06:58The King of Prussia Inn was built in 1719 and James believes the structure is still standing.
about 0:07:32The inn was named in honour of Frederick the Great and became a centre of food and drink during the Revolutionary War.
about 0:07:40The incorporation of the township dates to 1713, more than fifty years before the American Revolution.
about 0:06:42Townships were required at that point to pay six shillings to the Pennsylvania legislature for licences.
about 0:06:58The King of Prussia Inn was built in 1719 and James believes the structure is still standing.
about 0:07:32The inn was named in honour of Frederick the Great and became a centre of food and drink during the Revolutionary War.
about 0:07:40An alternate story says the inn was first called Berry's Tavern and got its name to lure in Prussian mercenaries, who were big spenders.
about 0:07:49There is a town called King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, near Upper Merion.
about 0:06:5364.3%
Biggest faith: Catholic residents, 38.5%
about 0:14:55White 70% · Black 4.8% · Asian 18.5% · Hispanic 3.8%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▲ high by at least a third
Violent crime
▼ less than half the national average
Cash stolen from the Sears store in St David's
$34,073
Money Joseph Wambaugh offered a state trooper for information
$50,000
Asking price, four-bedroom two-bath house
about 0:17:47Asking price, four-bedroom five-bath house
about 0:18:35Asking price, six-bedroom five-bath house
about 0:19:28"33,153"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:13:43
"40.7"
Comparison: "a little bit higher than average". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:13:54
"57%"
Comparison: "a little above the national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:13:58
"70%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:14:21
"4.8%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:14:21
"18.5%"
Comparison: "very high for any American town". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:14:21
"3.8%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:14:50
"62.4%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:28
"36.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:36
"1.4%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:36
"64.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:14:55
"38.5%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:06
"4.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:11
"$80,006"
Comparison: "higher than the $54,000 average". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:50
"113"
Comparison: "100 is average". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:15:55
"$451,700"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:16:16
"$1,470"
Comparison: "a little bit high". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:16:56
"$199,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:17:47
"$1,195,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:18:35
"$2,500,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:19:28
"high by at least a third"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: above.
As told in 2023 about 0:25:11
"less than half the national average"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2023 about 0:25:14
"$34,073"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 1:12:02
"$250,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 1:38:12
"$1.1 million"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 1:39:31
"$36,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 2:21:19
"$50,000"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 2:39:18
3.0 / 5 · average of 5
“There is no place like Upper Merion: the schools are exceptional and the people who make up the community truly care about each other, with residents willing to do anything to help their neighbours.”about 0:08:20
“Traffic is rough and the area is being built up quickly, but housing and family living are wonderful; it still manages to keep a small-town feeling even though it is far from a small-town area.”about 0:09:44
“The township needs better public transport, with more bus routes and an expanded train system, so residents have better access to jobs, education and other essential services.”about 0:09:59
“A numbered list of the bad parts: Swedesburg, King's Manor, Valley Forge Homes, Brandywine Village, Swedland and Hughes Park, Sweetbriar and Bridgeport; the writer grew up in Sweetbriar around 611, saw friends die, and says the schools had good academics but bad safety and embarrassing teachers.”about 0:10:22
“The place is suspicious, the schools have a lot of drama, there is a good amount of crime, litter and traffic.”about 0:13:03
Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, lies in Montgomery County, about fifty minutes from Philadelphia and about fifty-five minutes from Folcroft.
Susan Reinert was born Susan Gallagher in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, on 1 September 1942. Her mother was a schoolteacher and Susan followed her into teaching, taking a degree in English and a master's degree from Penn State in 1966. She met Kenneth Reinert at college while he was serving in the Air Force, and they married in 1965. The family moved from Sacramento to Rome, New York, and to Puerto Rico before returning to the Philadelphia area in 1971, when Kenneth left the Air Force. Their daughter Karen was born in 1968 and their son Michael in 1969. Susan began teaching English at Upper Merion High School in 1971 and was popular with staff and pupils. She and Kenneth separated in 1974 and divorced in March 1976, amicably, and she moved to Ardmore with the children.
He had two failed marriages and three sons, and he told everyone that he would never marry again. In practice he maintained several long-term relationships at once, including one with a fellow English teacher, Sue Myers, who lived with him. A former colleague said he charmed her into an affair and that he was involved with three or four other women at the same time. He was described as ruggedly handsome and scholarly, with a hypnotic effect on women. Susan, according to her friends, began an affair with him within a couple of years of starting at the school, while she was still married to Kenneth.
He wore ill-fitting black suits bought at the Salvation Army, told long jokes over the school public address system and was known for letting discipline slide. His wife, Stephanina, worked in a dry cleaners and was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in the mid-1970s. While she was in and out of hospital she kept a diary, recording that her husband had become involved in group sex and swinging, that he subscribed to swinger magazines and that he collected pornography with a strong interest in bestiality. She died of cancer in August 1979.
Stephanie was known to Philadelphia police as a sex worker and Eddie was on probation for an armed robbery. In 1978 they vanished without warning, leaving their clothes, luggage and toothbrushes behind.
In the meantime a man posing as a Brink's courier robbed the Sears store in St David's on 27 August 1977, taking $34,073 in cash. On 17 December 1977 a second attempt at the Sears store at the Neshaminy Mall failed when a forged courier card and signature did not match. Police found four loaded handguns in his car, along with a hood mask, bolt cutters and a syringe filled with tranquiliser, and at his home they found three pounds of marijuana, illegal pills, four gallons of nitric acid stolen from the school, stolen office equipment, Brink's badges and uniforms, stolen Army ID cards, silencers and a large collection of pornography.
In June she bought two more policies, for $150,000 and $100,000, bringing her estate if she died to $1.1 million.
On Friday 22 June 1979, in a heavy hail storm, Susan and her two children left their Ardmore home at about nine in the evening. A neighbour heard the telephone ring and saw them hurry to the car, and later heard the distinctive ignition of Susan's orange-red Plymouth Horizon at about half past ten before the car disappeared. He then collected Papis and drove to the shore, arriving at the Airloom Apartments in Cape May at about five in the morning.
On Monday 25 June 1979, at about 5.30 in the morning, an anonymous caller with what sounded like a Spanish accent told 911 that there was a sick woman in the Host Inn parking lot near Harrisburg. Police found Susan's body in the hatchback of her car, which had been left open. She had been beaten all over, stripped, bound with chains and tape placed over her mouth, and the autopsy suggested she had lived for twenty-four to thirty-six hours after the initial beating. The children were missing. Police searched babysitters, friends and family and found no trace of them. In the car were fibres, a partial fingerprint, a comb marked 79th Army Reserve Command in Norristown and a rubber dildo that did not belong to Susan.
When Susan's friend Sharon Lee called him in New Mexico and asked about the children, he replied, "The children? Oh yes, the children. How old were the children?"
Investigation showed that Susan had cancelled her conference plans, that the home was untouched and the children's clothes were laid out ready for packing, and that Kenneth Reinert had no motive.
The prosecutor, Richard Guida, had also resigned in disgrace after being imprisoned for cocaine distribution.
Among his possessions was a photograph, developed in 1986, of a distinctive stone in a wooded area, which investigators thought might mark the children's grave. Karen and Michael Reinert were never found. Stephanie and Eddie Hunsburger were never found either. As of 2020 the case remained open, with a state trooper saying there was a possibility, perhaps a probability, of a third person involved.
June 1979 / Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and the Host Inn parking lot near Harrisburg
As told in the episode, on 13 July 2023.
Accused
Accused
1978 / King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
As told in the episode, on 13 July 2023.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
landmark
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