George banks father of the bride

Of all the ugliness he saw in the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 1982, one image remains embedded in Jim Zardecki’s mind.

Zardecki was Luzerne County’s chief detective back then when mass murderer George Banks methodically shot and killed 13 people at two separate locations and left another man critically wounded.

When he arrived at the scene on Schoolhouse Lane, Zardecki said he walked in and could not believe what he was seeing.

Zardecki said former Luzerne County Deputy Coroner Joseph Shaver had warned him that the scene was horrific, telling Zardecki that there were “bodies and blood all over the place.”

“When I walked in the house on Schoolhouse Lane, there were five bodies on the first floor — on a couch and on the floor — and all were deceased,” Zardecki said. “Then I went to the second floor.”

That’s where Zardecki came upon a young girl sitting on a bed with her back against the wall.

“It’s still my most vivid memory of that night,” he said. “The little girl’s eyes were

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