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<p>Coal miner Peter Blaso, 27, showed up at Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters on State Street with a woman&#8217;s body inside his vehicle on Oct. 28, 1935.</p><p>Blaso was described as a wild-eye, disheveled young man.</p><p>&#8220;Police detectives making a hurried investigation found the assertions of the frightened man were only too true. A woman&#8217;s body was found slumped in the back seat of a sedan at the police entrance,&#8221; reported the Times Leader on Oct. 29, 1935.</p><p>A Times Leader photographer captured a deputy coroner and two assistants removing the body to an ambulance. She was identified as Edna Reilly, 37, who lived at 101 Prospect St., Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>An autopsy at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital revealed Reilly suffered a fractured skull, a broken neck and fractured ribs that pierced her lungs, the Times Leader reported.</p><p>Reilly&#8217;s chest showed a distinct imprint of a heel of a man&#8217;s shoe, the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper reported Oct. 30, 1935.</p><p>Deputy Coroner J. Emmett Brislin estimated Reilly was dead four to five hours when Blaso showed up at police headquarters.</p><p>Police interrogated Blaso who informed detectives Reilly &#8220;was his best girl&#8221; and they had been living together as man and wife.</p><p>During a second interrogation of Blaso, he told detectives Reilly fell asleep in the vehicle and he realized she was dead when he offered her water when he stopped near a natural spring on Middle Road in Hanover Township.</p><p>Blaso maintained his innocence for two days until he was charged with murder and manslaughter on Oct. 31, 1935, when he admitted he killed Reilly at Ryman&#8217;s Lumber Yard under the South Street Bridge in Wilkes-Barre, the Wilkes-Barre Evening News newspaper reported the same day.</p><p>Blaso drove around for several hours before he went to police headquarters.</p><p>Defended by attorneys Frank McGuigan Sr. and Frank McGuigan Jr., Blaso pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Feb. 3, 1936.</p><p>Judge W. A. Valentine sentenced Blaso to five years in jail to be served at the county jail, the Evening News reported Feb. 13, 1936.</p><p>Two years later, Valentine paroled Blaso from jail on July 13, 1938, on conditions he maintained employment by the coal mines and refrain from alcohol.</p><p>Blaso remained in the news for several years and was the victim of a police shooting.</p><p>The Times Leader reported a drunken Blaso was stabbed by a man on Sambourne Street on Jan. 3, 1940.</p><p>When police responded to a fight on Glenn Street in Wilkes-Barre where Blaso assaulted his wife and stepson, John Weber, police officer Orville Allen shot him in the back as he fled across railroad tracks at Dana and Hazle streets.</p><p>&#8220;The bullet entered Blaso&#8217;s back on the right side, passed through his body and out through his chest just below the right shoulder,&#8221; the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Jun 18, 1941.</p><p>Despite being shot, Blaso challenged Allen to fight, the Record reported.</p><p>&#8220;It was the second time Blaso had been shot by a policeman. Detective John Burke fired at him in 1929 while chasing him after a robbery of an employee near Hazard Rope Works near Hazle Street, the Record reported June 19, 1941.</p><p>Blaso was fatally stabbed during a fight with his stepson, John Weber, on Aug. 18, 1960, inside a residence on Lincoln Street in Wilkes-Barre, the Evening News reported the same day.</p><p>District Attorney Stephen A. Teller opted not to pursue a murder charge against Weber. </p><style>
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<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Peter-Blaso-TL-10291935-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Deputy Coroner J. Emmett Brislin and assistants place a basket containing the body of Edna Reiley in an ambulance at Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters on State Street, Wilkes-Barre. Picture published in the Times Leader on Oct. 29, 1935. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Peter-Blaso-TL-10291935-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Deputy Coroner J. Emmett Brislin and assistants place a basket containing the body of Edna Reiley in an ambulance at Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters on State Street, Wilkes-Barre. Picture published in the Times Leader on Oct. 29, 1935. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Edna-Reilly-WB-Record-10311935-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Edna Reilly</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Edna-Reilly-WB-Record-10311935-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Edna Reilly</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Peter-Blaso-2-TL-09142019-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Peter Blaso</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Peter-Blaso-2-TL-09142019-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Peter Blaso</caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Look Back: Man shows up at police headquarters with body in vehicle in 1935