Killing of Susan Ledyard

Susan Morrissey Ledyard, 50, was a Wilmington, Delaware, resident and a longtime English teacher at Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. At 7:39 a.m. on July 23, 2019, authorities recovered her body from the Brandywine River near Northeast Boulevard in Wilmington. Delaware State Police reported visible injuries. The initial public releases treated the case as a death investigation while the Delaware Division of Forensic Science completed its examination.

At 8:54 that morning, police found Ledyard's black 2016 Honda Civic near the Rising Sun Lane Bridge over the Brandywine River, roughly three miles upstream from where her body was recovered. In a 2024 case update, police said detectives did not believe she entered the river at the point where the car was parked. The vehicle and recovery locations became central fixed points in the continuing effort to reconstruct her final movements.

On November 14, 2019, Delaware State Police announced that the Division of Forensic Science had classified Ledyard's death as a homicide caused by blunt-force trauma and drowning. The State Police Homicide Unit and Troop 2 Major Crimes Unit continued the investigation. Contemporary reporting by The Philadelphia Inquirer independently reported the forensic ruling and identified Ledyard as a teacher whose body had been found in the Brandywine.

The case has not produced a publicly announced arrest or charge. A Delaware State Police case bulletin lists it as an unsolved murder and records a $50,000 family reward for information leading to an arrest. On July 23, 2024, Delaware State Police again publicized the case, said detectives did not believe Ledyard entered the river where her car was parked, and described the homicide investigation as continuing.

The ongoing status rests on that official 2024 update. No uncharged person is named, and the account does not use a separate case involving a relative to imply responsibility. Important gaps remain concerning where Ledyard entered the river, the sequence of the assault, and who was responsible.