Investigators make new appeal for help in the 1993 Montco slaying of Julie Barnyock

On Nov. 8, 1993, at 11:40 p.m., 18-year-old  Julie Barnyock arrived at SEPTA's Lansdale station on the train from Philadelphia and called home seeking a ride, a hint of nervousness in her tone.

She was never heard from again.

Three weeks later, her body was found in the Lansdale SEPTA/Conrail rail yard. She had been bludgeoned.

On Friday, the 23d anniversary of that tragic discovery, officials have issue a new appeal for information in the case.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement that police have been following up on several leads that came in over the past year.

"We've interviewed hundreds of people about Julie's murder since it happened, and we've re-interviewed man in the last several years," Steele said. "We want to find her murderer and bring justice to this family that have been grieving for 23 years …"

A $10,000 reward for information in the case remains in effect.

Barnyock lived with her parents just in New Britain, just across the Bucks County line from Lansdale, and had graduated from Central Bucks High School the previous June.

She had gone to Philadelphia the day she disappeared to spend time with friends on South Street.

In an interview a year after Barnyock's slaying, her mother, Gloria, said Julie had befriended street people and squatters on her trips to South Street and she harbored the fear that is how her killer found her.

"She was too trusting," Gloria Barnyock said.

It was a homeless man who found her body, partially decomposed and naked from the waste down, in high grass at the rail yard.

Anyone with information is asked to the County Detective Bureau at 610-278-3368.