Former Bucks County resident William Walter Korzon has been charged with criminal homicide and other counts stemming a decades-long investigation into his wife’s 1981 disappearance.

Korzon, now 76, is accused of killing his wife Gloria Korzon nearly 40 years ago, soliciting the murder of a police officer, forging his wife’s signature on tax documents and lying under oath at court proceedings in 1988 to increase his share of his late wife’s estate.

Warrington Township Police and Bucks County Detectives, with the assistance of the York County Quick Response Team, arrested Korzon early Thursday morning at his home in Lower Windsor Township, York County.

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District Judge Jean Seaman arraigned Korzon later in the morning at her court in Warwick Township on charges of criminal homicide, criminal solicitation to criminal homicide, forgery and perjury. Korzon was denied bail and will be held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.

William and Gloria Korzon married in 1967, and for the 10 years prior to the woman’s disappearance, lived on Pickertown Road in Warrington Township. Their relationship was marked by persistent domestic abuse that saw Gloria Korzon repeatedly battered by her husband and left often with black eyes and broken bones.

Gloria Korzon chronicled her abuse in a series of letters to her attorney. According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in the case, William Korzon’s own statements earlier this year corroborate the woman’s accounts.

Gloria Korzon was 37 when she was last seen alive at work March 6, 1981. She has not been seen or heard from since that date and though her body has not been recovered, Gloria Korzon was declared legally dead in 1997.

Within days of the woman’s disappearance, however, William Korzon began taking steps to maintain the impression his wife was alive and well.

First, he went to Gloria Korzon’s workplace, Bridgeport Controls in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, and told the woman’s supervisor to terminate her employment because his wife was experiencing physical and mental health issues. He directed her final paycheck be sent to their home.

Then, in May 1981, Korzon sent a Mother’s Day card to Gloria Korzon’s mother, signing the card “Gloria S. Korzon.” While again speaking about the case earlier this year, Korzon said he had forged his wife’s signature to maintain the illusion she was alive, the complaint says.

A recent check by law enforcement of all available databases and records show no activity by Gloria Korzon since March 6, 1981.

In the years after the woman vanished, Korzon would claim at times that his wife had left the marriage. Despite claiming she had gone away, he kept and hid Gloria Korzon’s legal documents, including her Social Security card, drivers license, medical insurance card and voter registration.

When questioned this year about his wife’s death, the complaint says Korzon responded, “Did you find the body?”

William Korzon’s arrest comes as a result of the dogged and persistent investigation of the Warrington Township Police Department and Bucks County Detectives. The case has been assigned for prosecution to Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and Deputy District Attorney Chelsey Jackman.

Contact: James O’Malley, 215.348.6298, jtomalley@buckscounty.org

Criminal charges are allegations subject to proof in court. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.