Evidence in decades old missing woman to be presented to coroner's jury

Mar. 4—WILKES-BARRE — Missing since May 1970 and legally declared deceased, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office will present evidence to a coroner's jury to determine the cause and manner of death for Ilonka Cann.

A coroner's inquest is scheduled to begin Monday with the selection of six jurors and two alternates whose task will be to decide how Ilonka Cann, 22, mysteriously disappeared by her own choice or by foul play.

The Pennsylvania State Police at Shickshinny and Wilkes-Barre barracks have been investigating Ilonka Cann's disappearance since she was last seen at her Cann Road residence in Huntington Township on May 27, 1970.

In recent years, state police have renewed their investigation by draining several ponds, an excavation of an island and a wooded area near the Cann residence.

Reportedly, Ilonka Cann's husband, Charles Cann II, reported her missing when he returned home after teaching at a school only to find their 15-month-son alone. Ilonka Cann was pregnant at the time she disappeared.

Ilonka Cann was legally declared deceased by Luzerne County Judge Richard M. Hughes III in October based on a petition filed by her sister, Anita Harless, through Attorney Nancy Violi.

The judicial designation of being deceased changed the state police investigation from a missing-persons investigation to a death investigation, resulting in the coroner's inquest.

According to the petition Harless filed, her sister's disappearance came at Ilonka Cann was preparing to leave her husband.

Ilonka Cann frequently wrote her parents and family in Ohio up until May 25, 1970, according to the petition, when she informed them she planned to leave her husband.