Benjamin Finley, Inquirer Staff Writer
Last updated: Friday, October 2, 2015, 10:40 AM
Posted: Friday, October 2, 2015, 9:27 AM

After pursuing the case for over 30 years, investigators are charging two men in the 1984 rape and murder of a 14-year-old Bucks County girl in 1984. ... George Shaw is to be charged with homicide and rape, and Robert Sanders, hindering prosecution, officials said Friday. ... Shaw was apprehended in Florida and awaits extradition, while Sanders is in a Monroe County jail on unrelated charges.

Officials said that they never considered the slaying of Barbara Rowan in Bensalem Township a cold case and that a break came recently when Sanders admitted that he was present when it occurred. ... According to police, the victim was babysitting Shaw's child when Shaw, high on methamphetamines, took her into a bedroom and raped her.

Investigators said Sanders told them that when Shaw came out of the bedroom, he appeared panicked and used an expletive to denote that he had done something terrible. ... Sanders helped dispose of the body, they said.

The girl was reported missing by her parents on Aug. 3, 1984. Her disappearance startled the township and prompted an extensive search that involved a bloodhound and state police helicopter, according to a news report from the time.