FEATURE weeks pregnant. Her murder may be linked to the April 2005 death of Donna Pittinger, whose body was found floating in the Tuscarawas. Send tips to the Akron Police Detective Bureau: 330-375-2490.
7. Who Killed Anita Pratt and Her Unborn Baby?
his own home, striking him on the head with some blunt instrument. His wife was out of state at the time. His son discovered the body. No suspects have been named, though his wife has said she believes she knows who did it. Send tips to Kent police: 330-673-7732.
10. The Murder of Marilyn Sheppard
Crime Scene: Ashtabula, Sept. 19, 1981 The Mystery: Anita Pratt, 22, was found stabbed to death, in a pool of blood, beside her 1 year-old son’s crib. There were no signs of forced entry. Her stepfather, Bill Colley, who lived across the hall from her apartment, told police he found the front door open and her child crying inside. She was seven months pregnant at the time. Police long suspected the stepfather but he never confessed to the crime. Send tips to Ashtabula County detectives: 330-675-7890.
8. The Disappearance of Tonia Aldrich
Tonia Aldrich
Crime Scene: Elyria, March 29, 1997. The Mystery: Last seen at Chris’s Place bar at 2 a.m., 38-year-old Tonia walked east down Clark Street, headed for home. Later that night, her mother found Tonia’s medication and belongings by the front door but there was no trace of Tonia. She never used her credit cards after that day. It is believed she met with foul play. Send tips to the Elyria Police Department: 440-326-1205.
9. Who Killed Professor Shaw? Crime Scene: Kent, Sept. 20, 2004. The Mystery: Douglas Shaw taught urban studies at the University of Akron for 32 years before someone killed him inside
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Marilyn Sheppard
Crime Scene: Bay Village, July 3, 1954. The Mystery: Someone bludgeoned Marilyn to death in the middle of the night. Her husband, wealthy osteopath Sam Sheppard, claimed he was sleeping downstairs when he heard cries. He raced upstairs but was confronted by an intruder who knocked him unconscious. An autopsy found that Marilyn was pregnant at the time she died. Sam was found guilty of her murder, but won a retrial and was later acquitted. The evidence suggests a woman or a very weak man actually committed the crime. Sheppard’s mother committed suicide a few days after Sam’s initial conviction. Send tips to Bay Village Police: 440-871-1234.
11. Who Was the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run? Crime Scene: Cleveland, 1935 to 1938 The Mystery: At least a dozen people were killed by a serial killer known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who preyed upon drifters who lived in shanty slums around the banks of the Cuyahoga following the Great Depression. The sadistic predator cut the bodies into pieces and sometimes only torsos were found. Most of the male victims had been castrated, too. Untouchable Eliot Ness was safety director of Cleveland at the time.
magazine | clevescene.com | May 13 - 19, 2015
He believed Dr. Francis Sweeney was responsible and the murders stopped after Sweeney had himself committed to a mental ward. Other believed the real killer moved away and to safer killing fields. Send tips to Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, Detective Bureau: 216-443-6130.
12. Who Bombed the Thinker? Crime Scene: Cleveland Museum of Art, March 24, 1970. The Mystery: One of the most recognizable sculptures in history, Rodin’s the Thinker, sits at the entrance to the Museum of Art. Next time you visit, take a good look at its base. The steel is all twisted and the man’s feet are missing. Why? Because someone placed a bomb, as powerful as three sticks of dynamite, beneath it in 1970. It’s believed the domestic terrorist group, the Weather Underground, did it as a political statement, but nobody ever claimed responsibility and nobody has been arrested for the crime. Send tips to Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, Detective Bureau: 216-443-6130.
13. Who Killed Beverly Jarosz? Crime Scene: Garfield Heights, Dec. 28, 1964. The Mystery: 16-year-old Beverly Jarosz looked like a young Zooey Deschanel. The Catholic schoolgirl had no shortage of suitors in Garfield Heights — and at least one stalker as well. One anonymous admirer left a ring and bracelet on her back porch. But the attention made her suspicious and she started carrying a sharp letter opener for protection. Then, a few days after Christmas, someone murdered Beverly in her bedroom when she was home alone. She was stabbed 42 times and strangled with a rope. Suspects include her boyfriend, an ex, a neighbor boy, and a traveling salesman. But no one has ever been charged. Send tips to Garfield Heights police detectives: 216-475-5686.
14. The 1987 Akron Murder Spree Crime Scene: Akron, August through December 1987. The Mystery: Three women were brutally murdered in similar ways in 1987, and their deaths may be the work of a serial killer. On August 10, 31-year-old Janice Christensen went jogging along the Hudson Bike and Hike trail. Someone sexually assaulted her and stabbed her to death. Her body was found the next day, just off the trail. On Oct. 24, the
body of JoAnn Bartholomew was discovered in the woods behind Chapel Hill Mall after she failed to return from church. She too had been raped and stabbed. Marcia Kay Potter, 36, was reported missing Dec. 14. They found her body in a northwest Akron apartment complex. Someone had stabbed her to death. It’s possible these murders may be related to Barbara Blatnik’s homicide as well. Send tips to the Akron Police Detective Bureau: 330-375-2490
15. Did a Serial Killer Leave His Victims in Berlin? Crime Scene: Berlin Reservoir, 1994 The Mystery: 14-year-old Sarah Boehm left her family’s house in Rochester, Pennsylvania, one night, telling her brother that she was going to a friend’s house. She never made it there. Her body was later discovered in Berlin Reservoir, a rural Ohio park, less than a halfmile from where the nude body of 17-year-old Kathryn Menendez was found. Menendez was from Alliance and had run away before. Both girls were murdered in the summer of 1994. The FBI believes the crimes may be the work of a serial killer. Send tips to the FBI: 216-522-1400 .
16. Who Really Killed Ramona Krotine?
Crime Scene: Brook Park, March 20, 2003. The Mystery: Someone shot this suburban mom in the head, execution-style, and left her body in the trunk of her own car at a seedy RTA station on the west side. Her husband, realtor Jeff Krotine, was tried three times for her murder but was ultimately acquitted. Police suspected he was involved after they caught him getting rid of carpeting from their bedroom. A witness named Sam Mazzola, who ran a bear-wrestling business, claimed he knew who the real killer was. Mazzola died in 2011; he suffocated on a dildo while dressed in leather and handcuffed to his bed. Jeff Krotine died last year of natural causes. Send tips to the Brook Park police: 216-433-1239.
17. What Happened to Beverly Potts? Crime Scene: Cleveland, August 24, 1951. The Mystery: Probably Cleveland’s most famous unsolved mystery, just about everyone has heard of Beverly Potts and her case remains a mystery. On August 24, 10-year-old Beverly went to Halloran