Pennsylvania man dies 38 years after baseball bat beating

The recent death of a 64-year-old Pennsylvania man who was beaten with a baseball bat in a case of mistaken identity 38 years ago has been ruled a homicide, the York County coroner said.

Craig Tschudy died of diffuse traumatic brain injury that he suffered in York, a city of around 44,800 about 100 miles west of Philadelphia, when he was 26 years old, the coroner’s office said in a statement.

A homicide ruling means someone else caused a person’s death.

Tschudy “was reportedly assaulted with a baseball bat by unknown assailants at the time, a case of mistaken identity,” the coroner’s office said. No arrests were ever made, and the assailants, who fled, were never identified.

Tschudy died at a nursing home in Dallastown on June 5.

The coroner’s office said no charges will be filed because of the inability to identify the attackers. “However, this is ruled a homicide in manner of death as the injuries eventually contributed to Tschudy’s death 38 years later,” the coroner said in a statement.