The brutal murder of Realtor Charlotte Fimiano nearly 30 years ago remains one of the Lehigh Valley’s most notorious cold cases.
Now investigators are offering a reward for information leading to the killing finally being solved.
Fimiano, 40, an agent with Weichert Realtors in Bethlehem, was found strangled and shot to death in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, 1997, inside a vacant house on the 2100 block of Chelsea Lane in Lower Saucon Township. She had failed to return home the previous night after showing the house to an unknown person.
Pennsylvania State Police on Wednesday announced in a Facebook post that a $5,000 cash reward is being offered for information leading to the case being solved, or an arrest being made.
Fimiano’s murder shocked the region and made national headlines. It also led to changes in how the real estate industry handles house showings.
In the years since, no arrests have been made despite police following hundreds of leads. In a Morning Call story on the 10th-anniversary of the killing in 2007, then-lead investigator Cpl. Robert Egan declined to discuss potential motives, but said he was confident the case could still be solved.
Fimiano was described as a “go-getter” who quickly became one of Weichert’s top salespeople after joining the firm in 1986, according to previous Morning Call coverage of the case. She was a native of Phillipsburg where she graduated from Warren County Vocational School and Technical Institute in 1974.
Anyone with information on Fimiano’s killing is asked to call state police at Bethlehem at 610-861-2026 or the state police toll-free tip line at 1-800-472-8477. Tips can also be submitted online at https://www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=107.