Their bodies were found days later in a field near a local cemetery. Bonnie J. Thompson, Investigative Writer/Author(Copyright 2013, 2015, 2017). If your interested in cold cases, you may find yourself wondering about how many unsolved murders in US a year. Mansfield, 19, was a somewhat shy, non-confrontational Lincoln College honor student from Rolling Meadows, IL. Prior to 2002, not many people knew much, or anything, about it. A Franklin County jury convicted him of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, and he served nine days of a 30-day jail sentence. Someone saw him doing it and reported him to the student activities director. Husband and wife Michael and Sharon Gravelle adopted 11 special needs children but kept them in cages at their Clarksfield Township home. Since Ruths remains have never been found, I have serious questions about the LPDs, Everybody likes a good whodonnit, [sic] and reality is that they [the Mansfield and Martin cases] are and will remain unto eternity, Im asking the public and the media those of you reading this to take an interest in these unsolved/unresolved murders Ive been reinvestigating for nearly 20 years. The closest similar sized city with FBI crime data is the city . The resulting gunfight ended in Floyds death on Oct. 22, 1934. It was a 10-minute drive, alone,to the Drabing house from the Schneiders. Crime in Logan County, Ohio. Cepec became the first person to receive the death penalty in Medina County in 60 years, according to The Medina Gazette. Schoolcraft was survived by a widow and six children. The April 2016 murders of. He searched for the gun but couldnt find it. Dover-born Mark Dean Schwab relocated to Florida, where he raped a 13-year-old boy in 1987 and raped and murdered an 11-year-old boy in 1991. Magnolia resident Thomas Lee Dillon shot and killed five men during a three-year period from 1989 to 1992. Investigators haven't named a suspect and won't tell whether they know why the murders happened. That night, Smrekar showed up at Mansfields dorm room with an armload of LPs wanting to store them there temporarily. Kori Glossetts page from the Missing Persons Database. And,. Chester McKnight shot and killed Todd Schultz and Annette Cooper in 1982 in Logan. Georgia Rudolph of Macon, Georgia claims she is the reincarnated spirit of a Marietta woman named Sandra J. Jenkins, who commited suicide in 1911. He writes a weekly column for HD Media. Unsolved Mysteries Of The 1970s That Still Keep Us Up At Night. He never told his mother who called, he just said he was going out for an hour or so and would be back. He convinced an accomplice to lure a child into the woods and feed her arsenic laced-candy. Former Gov. On November 6, 1993, hunters came across two deceased bodies. The facts and evidence support that Drabing did not act alone. My father, Logan County States Attorney Roger W. Thompson (1972-1980), alerted authorities the morning of Oct. 10th that Jay Fry and Ruth Martin were witnesses in the Kroger shoplifting case. And that was the beginning of what would become antenna television in southern West Virginia. But the state of Ohio did not execute anyone from 1963 to 1999, and Keaton is not listed in state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction execution records. Evidence showed that, in addition to other injuries, Raymond had been dragged by a car. He didnt have a vehicle, so he was on foot. Ahntastic Adventures in Silicon Valley But it was taken away from her." Morans rival Al Capone likely ordered the killings. Worley had already been charged with abducting the 20-year-old girl when officials found her body. Extensive investigations throughout the years have linked the murders together, though the killer has never been identified and the murders remain unsolved. Stewart had been reported missing four days earlier by her estranged husband and had no known ties to Columbiana County. Mrs. Whites survivors included her father, Jeff Jackson of Lundale; her mother, Mrs. Virginia Jackson; one sister, Miss Lorraine Jackson of Williamson; and two brothers, Herman Jackson of Lundale and Matt Jackson of Williamson. His alibi for the night of the Schneider murders was never fully corroborated. The Lincoln PD said Smrekar admitted burying Martin under the new construction of I-55 (an area that can never be excavated), which was underway to replace Route 66 at the time of Ruths disappearance. signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, at the Big Ear radio telescope of Ohio State University, (then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory in Delaware.) I knew the whole family, and the Schneider triple homicide is what set me on this path for truth and justice. Michelle Bica kidnapped the pregnant Theresa Andrews, shot her and cut her baby from her womb on Sept. 27, 2000 in Ravenna. She disappeared 6 days before she was to testify against defendant Russell Albin Smrekar, 21, in a Lincoln grocery store shoplifting case. She was presumed to be abducted from the legal office where she worked, despite the fact that all of the doors to the office were locked and there was an alarm to alert the store next door. She also conceded that she probably lied to police in 76 when I confronted her about her dramatic inconsistencies and contradictions. Clearly, these murders should be reinvestigated by agencies outside Logan County, for many obvious and warranted reasons. Witnesses reported seeing her with a man who walked her through the parking lot. But the state's history also includes notorious figures such as bank robber John Dillinger and Watergate cover-up artist John Dean. . Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. On New Years Eve, at approximately 2 PM, Michael answered the phone at his parents house. The Coshocton farm where Cletus Reese buried the bodies of three men he killed became known as Murder Ridge.. The same day Mansfield disappeared, the burglary matter was continued to March (unbeknownst to Mansfield and Smrekar) because the two female students whose dorm room had been burgled were still on their European vacation. Cleveland.com reporter Patrick Cooley contributed to this story. Lincoln, IL realtorRuth Louise Martin, 51, has been missing from her home since the morning of Wednesday, June 2, 1976. Bailey had previously been linked to the murder of a U.S. marshal, a bank robbery in the state of Washington and an escape from a prison in North Carolina. Follow-up interrogation is in order. For women the figures were or 140 per cent. Harrison had been raped and strangled before investigators found her body six days later. Map Browse By State. Rick Jones was Judge Thorntons 21-year-old bailiffinthe courthouse the spring and summer of 76. The Troy resident claimed he found Frances Nesbitt dead in a bathtub but eventually confessed to the murder. 4. the most comprehensive account and reveal of the facts concerning the 1976 Logan County murders. Noting the pattern of the bullets and conditions of the bodies, according to police, it indicated that the killer was an excellent marksman.. He also went outside to look for the two who escaped, but he couldnt find them either. But the discovery of his plot led to his execution. Hand claimed he shot Welch in self-defense after Welch broke into his house and shot his wife. He was released from prison in 2017, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Roberts then drove to his mother's house in Columbus and got into a shootout with police. She . Shane Roush has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a shootout that seriously injured a Morrow County Sheriff's deputy in 2010. Bob and Kathy Kennedy told us they had been running into. The direction he ran was in the opposite direction from where he claimed he parked his car. Risners found the 50-year-old dead in the garage behind his home in Mach 2006. Ive devoted much of my life and financial resources to uncovering the truth in the hope of achieving complete justice for the murdered victims and their families some have never received justice of any kind. 37 Mastronardi and his insurance company also paid $3 million to Brabanders family, according to The Plain Dealer. The history of Logan County is vast, and its longtime existence is marked by numerous tales of murder, beginning as far back as the 1700s when Aracoma and her tribe were attacked at what is now Midelburg Island in Logan. It seems obvious to me why theyre resisting because I opened a HUGE can of worms, and I think theyd prefer the public not know all the facts. But it was his execution that attracted international attention. A Florida jury convicted him in 1992 and he died by lethal injection in 2008. Mansfield reluctantly accommodated Smrekar, but after Smrekar left campus and hitchhiked to Joliet (with the guitar) Mansfield got scared and dumped the records under a stairwell near a trash chute in his dormitory. 1976 Logan County murders and probable cover-up. Belt pleaded guilty to tax evasion and prostitution charges and spent four years in a federal prison in Arizona, according to The Toledo Gazette. But FBI agent Melvin Purvis pursued Floyd to a farm outside East Liverpool. It is the right thing to do. Sheriff's deputies called in the guardsmen to protect Mitchell from a mob outside the jail, according to The New York Times. Fible said she believes the case was botched from the beginning because detectives placed blame on her. Each served two years in prison. Smrekar and Drabing were both Manson followers, and the Schneider murders were considered a Manson copycat crime. Since Ruths remains have never been found, I have serious questions about the LPDs haste to close the Martin case, particularly when the Lincoln PD has suspiciously claimed the bloody T-shirt is missing and facts prove detectives have lied about it. Trends Analytics. I now regret having delayed meeting with him it was an opportunity lost. The bloody T-shirt found in the secluded location of the park was more than likely used to wipe up the blood on the garage floor. The shootout left three police officers and a civilian injured and ended in Roberts' death, according to The Associated Press. Bica had for months told others she was pregnant and claimed the baby as her own. Lindsey shot Donald Hoop twice in the head outside the Mount Orab bar owned by Hoop and her husband. There is one other kicker to this story of unfortunate deaths in Logan County. Then he and another man cut up their bodies and buried parts along the Hocking River. And, while it took three years and some peculiar circumstances to resolve those murders, there has been one triple murder in Logan County that has never been solved. The motive was a robbery to pay for cocaine, prosecutors said. (NewsNation) The murder clearance rate hit an all-time low in 2020, and data analyzed by a nonprofit shows that trend continued last year. Detectives said Roush had more than 1,000 marijuana plants growing behind his rural home. I believe the cover-up began with the Martin case and then escalated and deepened with the event of the Schneider murders. Legendary coach Woody Hayes was fired for punching Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman in the aftermath. Brown was found beaten to death inside in February 2003. Murder Mysteries: . Name. That is an out-and-out LIE. Ruth Martins remains have never been found. Other murders come to mind, such as the death of Susie Fortuna, Alex Sayer, Barlow Ramey, and others. Former U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant saw his career end in disgrace in 2002. Surveillance video showed him shoot both at a sportsman's association clubhouse in Carey, according to The Courier of Findlay. Investigators found the body of Heskett who disappeared on Valentine's Day in 2015 in a burn barrel on Ash's property. As if the triple murder wasnt enough to shock people at the time, it was the even worse news that came the very next day following the King Shoals deaths that spread sorrow throughout the coal camps of Logan County and beyond The Banner headline proclaimed: Mrs. Then there is the 1930 murder of Logan Police Chief Roy Knotts, who was shot and killed on his first day on the job by Enoch Scaggs, a former Logan deputy and close ally of the Hatfield family, with Joe Hatfield serving as sheriff at the time of the killing at the Smoke House restaurant in Logan. I was 19 and a deputy circuit clerk at the Logan County courthouse in76 when Ruth Martin disappeared and the Schneiders were so horrifically slain. Also known as the Cleveland Torso Murderer, this unidentified serial killer murdered and dismembered at least twelve victims from among the homeless in Clevelandmany of whom remain unidentified to this day. Harvey is in custody at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution after he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.. Clear skies. In light of Kruegers egregious lies and the importance of the details relating to the T-shirt, that evidence most assuredly did not disappear (if its really missing) by accident, and it also didnt sprout legs and walk out of the LPD on its own. Bloomingburg native and former Ohio State and NFL quarterback Art Schlichter is perhaps best known for throwing the decisive interception in the 1978 Gator Bowl. He and five other inmates used shanks to threaten a guard during a break-in to the 17-year-old victim's cell on April 25, 1996. The Republican and former chairman of the House Administration Committee had been known as Mayor of Capitol Hill before he pleaded guilty to corruption charges. He is currently serving nearly 11 years for his role in a million-dollar sports ticket fraud. Kenneth Richey spent more than two decades on Ohio's death row for setting a fire that killed a 2-year-old girl in 1987. He committed suicide a month into his prison term. Dowdel has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. After being plagued by several bizarre and frightening dreams in which she was abducted and murdered by a stranger, Cindy Anderson mysteriously went missing on August 4, 1981. He reportedly made adeathbed confession to killing Mansfield and Martin before expiring from a terminal illness at Menard Penitentiary. . Get even more stories delivered right to your email. Like the feud, it is a Logan County historical masterpiece. I never heard Drabing or Jones say a word, but they were right beside Hanley, in Hanleys Chevy pickup, when the exchange took place.