The mysterious death of Susan Ledyard: One year later, few questions have been answered - The News Journal

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Isabel Hughes Delaware News Journal

Published 5:00 AM EDT Jul 23, 2020

Susan Morrissey Ledyard wouldn't tolerate dirty dishes in the sink.

Most of the time, her pet peeve wasn't an issue — Ledyard and her husband, Ben, lived by themselves, and he knew to put his plates and bowls in the dishwasher.

But in the summers, when Ledyard met her close friends and family in Stone Harbor, New Jersey for their annual July beach trip, the dishes would become a point of contention.

"It doesn't seem like a big deal to remember to do, but when you're at the Shore and you've got so many people around you, sometimes you'd forget and put something in the sink," said Missy Morrissey, one of Ledyard's sisters.

"She just had this way of looking at you where she would whip her head to the side and kind of give you the side eye, like 'What are you doing, what is that?' "

Though Ledyard's pet peeve irked Morrissey at the time, she now misses it. She's also begun to notice dishes briefly piling up in the beach house sink, because Ledyard isn't at the Shore to remind her family to clean up after themselves.

One year ago, the 50-year-old teacher's body was pulled from Brandywine Creek, hours after she left her Wilmington home for a still-unknown reason.

BACKGROUND: Body recovered from Brandywine Creek in Wilmington

Initially, Ledyard's family, friends and others who knew her thought her death was an accident. Some even questioned whether it was a suicide.

In November, more than three months after Ledyard was found, Delaware State Police announced that the state's medical examiner had ruled Ledyard's death a homicide. Her cause of death, police said, was blunt force trauma.

STORY: Susan Ledyard's death ruled homicide, months after her body was found in the Brandywine: Police

Ledyard's family has been looking for answers since she was found a year ago. In that time, they've held press conferences, pinned posters with Ledyard's photo to telephone poles, created a public Facebook group to help with the investigation and are toying with the idea of renting a billboard to solicit more tips.

On the anniversary of her death, though, they're doing something a little more private. They're gathering in Stone Harbor to honor Ledyard's favorite place — while trying to remember to put their dirty dishes away.

Four hours still remain a mystery

Morrissey was first told about her sister's death on the afternoon of July 23, 2019.

She was tutoring a student at her home when she received a call from a phone number she didn't recognize. Because of her line of work, she thought it was a parent calling to inquire about tutoring, and let it go to voicemail.

As she Googled the phone number, Morrissey's other sister, Meg Morrissey Heinicke, called. Morrissey knew then that something was wrong.

"I said to my student, 'Just forgive me for a minute,' and I picked up the phone," Morrissey said. "I don't remember Meg's exact words, but I remember her getting to the point very quickly and saying Susan died. I think she said that they found her drowned in the river."

Morrissey, who was facing a pair of French doors towards the back of her house, began yelling "no." Over and over, she repeated, "no, no, no, no, no."

"Then I remembered my student — this poor 17-year-old kid who hardly knew me," Morrissey said. "I turned to him and said 'Oh my gosh, Henry, I'm so sorry.' I'm sure he was thrilled to leave early."

The next few days were a blur for Morrissey and her family.

MORE COMES OUT: Susan Ledyard's family says her death may be homicide, months after she was found in river

Slowly, they learned more about Ledyard's death, though the information came out in bits and pieces.

Ledyard's body, they were told, had been recovered from Brandywine Creek at about 7:45 a.m. July 23 near the Church Street bridge, which carries Northeast Boulevard over the water.

When Ledyard was pulled from the creek, she had visible injuries on her body, though police have not detailed what those injuries were.

About an hour later, detectives found Ledyard's car, a black 2016 Honda Civic, on Walkers Mill Road near the Rising Sun Lane Bridge. The bridge spans the Brandywine about 3 miles upriver from where her body was recovered. 

Police said earlier this month they don't believe she entered the river where her car was found. Ledyard lived on Riverview Avenue, about a mile from the Rising Sun Lane Bridge.

Using surveillance cameras and Ledyard's cellphone records, detectives determined Ledyard was texting and calling friends up to 2:45 a.m. the day of her death. It was not unusual for Ledyard to be up that late, her family has said.

Police said previously there was nothing alarming or uncommon about Ledyard's text messages to her friends that night. Her last message to Morrissey, at 12:29 a.m., was "so forward-looking," Morrissey said.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary about it at all," Morrissey said. "It really is like somebody got snatched off the face of the earth."

At 3:02 a.m., Ledyard left her driveway and drove to Walkers Mill Road, parking there just two minutes later.

Detectives who watched surveillance footage from the area said they saw Ledyard's headlights turn off, but that it was too dark to determine if anyone got into or out of the car.

POLICE ASK FOR HELP: Susan Ledyard was found dead in the Brandywine in July. Police are still looking for answers.

They know she was active until about 7 a.m., though, because of a fitness tracker she wore, Morrissey said. After that, it went blank.

'Stunning how big the loss is'

Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania on June 7, 1969 — Ledyard was six months shy of being a '70s baby, she would complain — Ledyard attended Upland Country Day School, Tatnall School, Georgetown University and San Francisco University, where she graduated with a master's in education.

She taught English for a year in the former Czechoslovakia, and later at Skyline High School in Oakland, California, before returning to the Delaware Valley.

Soon after, Ledyard began teaching language arts at Academy Park High School in Pennsylvania, where she worked for 13 years and was beloved by her students, Morrissey said.

"She was an excellent teacher and had a great impact on the many students that she taught," the Southeast Delco School District said in a statement after her death. "She provided leadership for Academy Park in the areas of reading instruction and English preparation for college-bound students."

Ledyard was a voracious reader, Morrissey said, often tackling multiple books at a time. 

While Morrissey and Heinicke, Ledyard's other sister, prefer nonfiction, "Susan would be reading fiction, nonfiction, the Classics."

"She loved literature," Morrissey said. "And if she lent you a book, it was highlighted and underlined with the passages and quotes she loved."

Stone Harbor was Ledyard's happy place, and each summer, she would pull a book or two from a shelf, take it to the beach and sit in her chair and read. Without fail, friends and family knew to look for Ledyard by the ocean, book in hand.

Ledyard's absence from the beach this year has been remarkable, Morrissey said. Though Morrissey was able to keep busy the first few months after her sister's death, returning to a place they shared together for so many years "has just been so incredibly difficult."

"I had no idea this is what people went through," Morrissey said. "It's just sort of stunning how big the loss is."

Morrissey and her siblings hold out hope that Ledyard's killer will be identified. But with their mother and father 84 and 86 years old, respectively, and one year already passing with little information about Ledyard's death, Morrissey said the clock is ticking.

"They're the ones I've worried about the most," Morrissey said. "We don't know how long they have, but I want it to be long enough to find out what happened to Susan."

Delaware State Police continue to ask for tips about Ledyard's death. They're also still trying to determine what she was doing between 3 and 7 a.m. on July 23. Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Daniel Grassi at 302-365-8441, or Det. Amy Lloyd at 302-365-8411.

Send story tips or ideas to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_

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The mysterious death of Susan Ledyard: One year later, few questions have been answered - The News Journal
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