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A serial killer serving life sentences in Florida has confessed to killing an Altoona man on New Year's Eve 1977 at Breezewood-area rest stop.
Pennsylvania State Police investigators obtained confessions in March from Edward A. Surratt at a state prison in Raiford, Florida, the agency said.
Among the cases was the shotgun slaying of Joel M. Kreuger, 36, of Greenwood, who was found dead at 10:15 a.m. Jan 1, 1978, in his parked car at a rest stop 5 miles south of Breezewood on Interstate 70, according to Mirror archives. Kreuger died from a shotgun wound to the chest.
Kreuger had started as director of volunteer services at the Altoona VA Hospital, now known as the Van Zandt VA Medical Center, in December 1974. His body was found by a trucker.
Also found murdered that New Year's morning about 3 miles away were Guy and Laura Mills in their Breezewood R.D. 1 home.
Guy, 64, died from a shotgun wound to his chest in the couple's kitchen. Laura Mills, 65, was found in their living room with a head wound.
Surratt also confessed to their murders as well as those of William and Nancy Adams in 1977 in Beaver County and the 1978 death of John Shelkons in Beaver County.
Surratt, now 79, a truck driver and former resident of Aliquippa, is serving two life sentences in Florida and was convicted of murder in South Carolina.
State police made contact with Surratt in 2018, leading to new information about the six Pennsylvania deaths.
Because of those sentences, state police said prosecutors don't plan to pursue charges against Surratt.
In 2007, Surratt told an interviewer he was involved in Pennsylvania and Ohio killings dating to the 1970s. Surratt has been incarcerated since October 1978.