Unsealed autopsy reveals details about mysterious death of prosecutor Jonathan Luna

More than two decades after the mysterious death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna, a Pennsylvania judge has unsealed an autopsy report that sheds more light on the cold case. 

The report’s release comes after a yearslong legal battle waged by LNP | LancasterOnline, with free legal support from Paula Knudsen Burke, the Pennsylvania Local Legal Initiative attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

In 2003, Luna, a 38-year-old assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, was found dead with 36 stab wounds in a creek in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Since then, the unsolved case has attracted immense public interest. Questions have swirled about whether Luna’s death was a homicide or suicide. The newly released autopsy report confirms his death was ruled a homicide. 

“The local community has been searching for answers about Jonathan Luna’s death for 22 years. These records finally provide some,” Burke said. “We are glad to have helped LNP get access to these documents so that the public can get closer to learning the full truth about what happened to this former federal prosecutor.”

In 2020, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office obtained a sealing order for the report, arguing its release could jeopardize the investigation into Luna’s death. At the time, LNP moved to unseal the records, but a court ultimately ruled that a balancing of competing interests weighed in favor of continuing to maintain the seal on Luna’s autopsy record.

In the years since, unresolved questions about Luna’s death have continued to capture the public interest. The case has attracted local and national news coverage, including a documentary that re-enacted key events in Luna’s life leading up to and after his death.

In 2024, on behalf of LNP, Burke filed a renewed motion to unseal the autopsy report, arguing that “the time has come to empower the public and allow it to determine, for itself, what those autopsy records reveal.” Former Reporters Committee E.W. Scripps Legal Fellow Zach Babo worked with Burke on the case.

Last week, ahead of a scheduled hearing on LNP’s renewed motion, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office dropped its long-running effort to shield the report from the public. Shortly after, Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth unsealed it.

As LNP reported, the unsealed records “give a deeper glimpse into the last night of Luna’s life.” The autopsy report says Luna died of freshwater drowning and multiple stab wounds. The records also describe what Luna was wearing, where he was stabbed, and the scene where his body was discovered. 

To learn more, check out LNP’s coverage.