Honoring Lisa and Devon Manderach’s Legacy in Limerick Township
On October 25, 2025, van der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin & Lindheim partner Bruce L. Castor, Jr. attended the ceremony commemorating the Lisa and Devon Manderach Memorial Playground in Limerick Township.
Limerick Township and the many public donors created the park and playground, which is currently being rebuilt, to honor Lisa Manderach and her 19-month-old daughter, Devon, brutally murdered in 1995. Then Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Bruce Castor led the innovative investigation, one of Pennsylvania’s first to rely on DNA evidence in a criminal case. Bruce successfully tried the celebrated case before a jury, bringing justice for the murders, creating now-enduring law in the Commonwealth regarding the use of DNA evidence in court, and forever impacting Limerick Township and Montgomery County by giving people a place to congregate and for children to play in a safe environment.
The Case That Shook Pennsylvania
On a humid Sunday, September 10, 1995, Lisa Manderach, 29, and her daughter, Devon, left home to shop at Your Kidz & Mine, a new children’s clothing store in the Collegeville Shopping Center. Lisa’s husband, Jimmy, stayed home to watch a football game. By evening, when his wife and child hadn’t returned, Jimmy called the police. Investigators found Lisa’s car in the parking lot outside the store, but no trace of either mother or child.
Hikers in Valley Forge National Park discovered Devon’s body at the bottom of a wooded embankment about fifty yards from the nearest access road. She was fully clothed, and the autopsy revealed suffocation and strangulation. There were no fibers or hairs on her body, meaning there was nothing to identify a suspect. Investigators never did locate forensic evidence on Devon’s body.
Castor arrived on scene to take over supervision of the homicide investigation. His attention soon turned to Caleb Fairley, 21, a cashier at Your Kidz & Mine and the son of the store’s owner. Fairley was known among friends for his fascination with vampire lore and the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons. He had been previously been accused of sexual harassment and was described by acquaintances as socially isolated and unsettling.
When questioned, Fairley appeared to be wearing foundation make-up to conceal fresh scratch marks on his face. He first claimed he got them while “mosh-pit dancing,” later telling friends they came from rescuing a man being beaten outside the store. He even pressured a friend to lie for him in court but the friend refused.
A search warrant of Fairley’s home uncovered pornographic materials and what Castor later described to Forensic Files as “all kinds of strange sexual devices and various other perverted stuff.”
Inside the store, detectives found critical evidence: long brunette hairs with the roots attached in a vacuum-cleaner and saliva deposits on the carpet that months later proved to match baby Devon’s DNA. Additionally, stains eventually proved to be from Fairley’s semen. None of this forensic evidence, at the time, was known to investigators. Castor had his suspicions, but without Lisa’s body, however, the investigation stalled.
Bruce Castor’s Role in a Groundbreaking Investigation
At the time, DNA analysis was still new to criminal forensics. “There were a handful of other DNA cases in Pennsylvania before this one,” Mr. Castor later explained, “but this was definitely the first use of DNA evidence in a trial of any sort in Montgomery County, much less in a murder case of national interest.”
Pennsylvania’s crime laboratories lacked the capability to process DNA evidence, so Castor took the unprecedented step of coordinating with national experts to ensure testing could move forward. His decision to rely on this emerging science was risky, but it became pivotal.
Fairley’s DNA was eventually discovered beneath Lisa Manderach’s fingernails, and strands of her hair were found entangled in the vacuum cleaner. This forensic link placed Fairley directly at the crime scene. However, none of these things could be proven without investigators first locating Lisa Manderach’s body. Without it, the critical evidence beneath her fingernails would not have been discovered. Worse, the integrity of any evidence on her body left to the elements might suffer, not just from the heat, but from foraging animals.
Trading the Death Penalty for the Truth
Worried that the critical evidence he hoped would be present on Lisa’s body would be destroyed if she was not located quickly, Castor floated the idea to Fairley’s lawyer that if Fairley showed police where he had hidden Lisa’s body, prosecutors would not pursue the death penalty. Fairley and his lawyer agreed that if Castor promised not to seek the death penalty (as he had done successfully many times before), Fairley would tell detectives where Lisa lay, though that he knew her location could not be used in evidence against him. Only the District Attorney, himself, could formally extend such an offer.
It was an agonizing decision. District Attorney Mike Marino and Bruce Castor (then First Assistant District Attorney) knew the choice would provoke public outrage. Still, they agreed that recovering Lisa’s body was essential to securing a conviction. It was a risk: had Fairley set Lisa on fire? Dumped her in water? Did animals get to her? Was any forensic evidence degraded by days of exposure to the elements? Was there any forensic evidence to find? Marino and Castor didn’t know. They gambled, and Marino authorized Castor to make the deal as Bruce had suggested.
As Castor later explained, “If we didn’t find Lisa, all we would have is a weird guy with scratches on his face who lies a little bit and we didn’t have anything to tie him to the crime. Finding her body was of utmost importance.”
Fairley led police to a wooded area near his health club. There, they found Lisa’s body in a sexually suggestive position, her hair covering her face. Her ribs were broken, her fingernails torn and broken from struggling, and forensic testing confirmed she had been manually strangled. The microscopic fibers on her blouse matched Fairley’s shirt, and the skin under her nails matched his DNA.
Public Outrage and Political Fallout
The decision to take the death penalty off the table provoked intense criticism from both the media and the local community. Some called the deal a betrayal; others accused prosecutors of showing mercy to a killer who had shown none to his victims. Marino and Castor were pilloried in the press and in public to what was then an unprecedented degree. They believed in doing what was necessary to protect the public, and then let the chips fall where they may. Castor refused to allow something that people believed was the right thing to do.
The backlash, however, became a serious political problem. DA Marino, who was campaigning for re-election in 1995 and also for state Attorney General in 1996, faced harsh media scrutiny. While Marino was re-elected before the full force of the controversy bloomed, he lost the endorsement needed to become Attorney General. Legal observers have since unanimously endorsed Castor’s decision as the correct legal and strategic move, and it is taught to young prosecutors to this day as “outside the box” thinking. But, as he has reflected, “Once the media kills you, it doesn’t restore you to life when it turns out you were right all along, does it?” But to Castor’s mind, doing what is right never goes out of fashion even when factoring in electoral realities.
Ultimately, the gamble paid off. The forensic evidence obtained after Lisa’s recovery made the case airtight. An out-of-county jury (chosen on account of the intense publicity in the case) convicted Fairley on two counts of first-degree murder and the Court sentenced him to two consecutive life terms in prison where he has remained for the past 30 years.
A Case That Made Forensic History
The Manderach case remains a landmark in Pennsylvania criminal law. It was among the first to demonstrate how DNA technology could transform homicide investigations. Today, law-enforcement training across the country cites Castor’s handling of the case as textbook “out-of-the-box” thinking, balancing investigative necessity with prosecutorial strategy. Castor always ran homicide investigations in the field explaining that the knowledge of what is going to be needed in court months or even years in the future enables investigators to craft their investigations to find evidence that will withstand scrutiny by the judge (and the courts of appeal) and be persuasive to a jury.
Lisa Manderach was a strikingly beautiful woman who fit the classic “goth” fantasy glorified by some adherents to the game “Dungeons and Dragons.” Castor reflected, “Caleb Fairley is an evil man, and evil people have evil thoughts,” he said. “This fantasy woman walked into the store, and his evilness drove him to commit these terrible crimes. If we did not get the forensic evidence we got from Lisa Manderach’s body, Caleb Fairley would almost certainly be walking around out there free right now.”
Honoring Their Memory: The Manderach Memorial Playground
In 1998, Limerick Township opened the Manderach Memorial Playground, a vibrant community space dedicated to Lisa and Devon. For nearly three decades, children, including Castor’s own, played there. Bruce spoke at the original dedication ceremony and his name even adorns a “plank” of the playground near where a curling slide reached the wood-chipped ground.
Now, the playground is being rebuilt for safety improvements, with plans to reopen in 2026. The redesigned space will continue to honor Lisa and Devon’s legacy, transforming a story of unthinkable tragedy into one of remembrance, healing, and resilience for generations to come.
Honoring Their Memory at van der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin & Lindheim
At van der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin & Lindheim, we honor the memory of Lisa and Devon Manderach by continuing the pursuit of justice that defined their case. Attorney Bruce Castor and the firm’s entire team remain dedicated to upholding the principles this investigation helped shape: truth, accountability, and the use of every available tool to protect victims and strengthen our justice system.
Their story is a lasting reminder that the law is not only about securing “wins,” but also about how events affect real people who need compassion, integrity, and an assurance that no victim is forgotten. That is what it means to be a lawyer, and van der Veen, Hartshorn, Levin & Lindheim lawyers know that.
Disclaimer: This blog is intended for informational purposes only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. It should not be considered as legal advice. For personalized legal assistance, please consult our team directly.