REWARD INCREASED IN UNSOLVED MURDER
Information sought on 15-year anniversary of brutal killing of Michael Ewer
It’s been 15 years since Michael Ewer was stomped to death in his sleeping bag in a dugout of Memorial Park in Lansdale and investigators are asking for the public’s help to solve the brutal crime.
On the anniversary of Ewer’s murder Tuesday, Montgomery County and Lansdale authorities announced that a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Ewer’s killer was increased to $5,000. The reward was previously set at $1,000.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said sometimes a seemingly small fact that someone remembers might be helpful to detectives as
they work to find the killer and solve the cold case.
“Please call detectives and share any detail about that day or the overnight hours around the baseball field,” Steele said on Tuesday. “We want to find Michael’s murderer and bring justice to this family that has been grieving for 15 years. Do the right thing and share anything you know.”
Steele and Lansdale Police Chief Michael Trail said the case remains an active investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Montgomery County Detective Bureau at 610-2783368 or the Lansdale Police Department at 215368-1801.
The investigation began at 1:49 p.m. Oct. 20, 2005, when Lansdale police re
sponded to Memorial Park for a report of a body found in the visitor dugout at the baseball field. Arriving officers found Ewer, 49, who had suffered a massive head injury, inside a sleeping bag on the dugout floor, according to court records.
From the position of Ewer’s body, it appeared to investigators that he was sleeping at the time he was attacked.
An autopsy determined Ewer suffered blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death was homicide.
During the ensuing years, investigators estimated they interviewed 150 people. Detectives previously said Ewer was staying in the park and may have been recently homeless.
But relatives, during previous interviews with The Reporter, described Ewer as a shy, quiet man and “a free spirit” and downplayed the perception of Ewer as a homeless drifter.
During interviews in 2010, relatives of Ewer claimed he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, had suffered a nervous
breakdown while in the U.S. Army and had lived at various residences, including in an apartment in Lansdale. Ewer previously lived in Buckingham Township and Doylestown in Bucks County, relatives told The Reporter in 2010.
But relatives said Ewer would stay in residences for only a short time before long stretches when he would disappear for weeks or months at a time. One relative claimed Ewer once spent some time in a state hospital in Norristown before he was released to a halfway house in Lansdale.
Authorities previously said that the killer or killers had not acted randomly. They said clearly there was a motive but officials have not commented about what that motive may have been.
According to a 2007 report in The Reporter, a man had appeared at the police station and confessed to the murder.
However, after spending several hours interviewing the man, detectives determined the man had mental health issues and he couldn’t provide details that would link him to the crime. The man eventually admitted that he did not commit the crime, according to the published report.