Go online to explore an interactive timeline of these 10 cold cases at springfieldnewssun.com.
For profiles of more Miami Valley Murder Mysteries, visit WHIO.com
In-depth coverage
The Springfield News-Sun teamed up with reporters from WHIO News Center 7 to examine these 10 cold cases, including interviewing investigators and family members.
The deaths of 10 women found dumped across Clark and Champaign counties over three decades are similar in many ways, most notably in how they’ve perplexed investigators and remained unsolved.
Robin Hartman and Mary Frances Harris in the early 1980s; Angela Hall, Thelma Gebert, Julie Freeman and Mary Vanculin in the mid 1990s; Shakura Walker, Buffy Jo Freeman, Angela Kilgore and Angela Hanaway from 2006 to 2008 — all were found dead with no obvious answers.
“We never give up and we never forget,” Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said. He’s resubmitted DNA evidence in several cases and said law enforcement keeps unsolved homicides open forever.
» TIMELINE: 10 Clark and Champaign County cold cases
Investigators said it’s unlikely that all or even some of the murders were committed by the same person, but admit that some striking similarities exist.
All of the victims were known to be involved with drugs and some of them worked as prostitutes. Some were last seen in the same area of Springfield before their deaths, the West Main Street corridor.
All of their bodies were found dumped outdoors — in parks, bodies of water or fields — although their causes of death differed. Some were strangled, some beaten, some were found so long after their deaths that an exact cause couldn’t be determined.
Investigators suspect a few might have died from drug overdoses, prompting their companions to panic and dump their bodies elsewhere.
In some cases detectives have had their sights on suspects, while others have remained complete mysteries.
But all 10 homicides are still open, cold cases waiting for the one bit of information that could solve the puzzle.
“What’s eventually going to solve some of these cases is someone saying something,” Springfield Police Division Capt. Mike Hill said.
The families of these women, who were all someone’s daughter and many of them someone’s mother, have gone years without closure.
“One of the greatest joys that I could have would be to let the family members know that the person who committed this crime has been arrested and is facing a trial,” Kelly said.
Vulnerable to violence
These women represent a vulnerable group in society who were frequently exposed to dangerous situations.
“There’s more than one perverted mind out there,” Hill said. “They prey on prostitutes and drug addicts because they are easy targets.”
Amanda Roth, the sister of victim Buffy Jo Freeman, said she knew her sister’s choices were dangerous and worried constantly for her safety.
“I was always afraid something like that would happen to her, because she was always getting in cars,” Roth said. “I always thought that something was going to happen and it did.”
Freeman’s body was found near the tennis courts at Snyder Park by police on July 27, 2007. She died of blunt force trauma to the head and body. She was 29 years old at the time of her death.
“I have dreams about it … How was she murdered? What could have possibly happened?” Roth said.
She’s long wondered if her sister’s death could be connected to any of the other unsolved homicides but said it’s scary to think about a possible serial killer .
“You have to be kinda sick to do that,” she said.
Every time police arrest a man who has assaulted or raped a prostitute in Springfield, they look for connections to these cases.
“We automatically look at them for these deaths,” Springfield Police Sgt. Jeffrey Flores said.
Serial killer not likely
Out of the 10 cases, Hill said it’s very unlikely that the earliest deaths are related to the later ones.
Police investigators found physical evidence at some of the scenes that suggests different individuals were involved, although they declined to disclose those details.
They’ve had suspects in many of the cases, but haven’t had enough proof to charge anyone.
“We have gut feelings on most of them,” said Flores, head of the Springfield crimes against persons unit. “But a gut feeling’s not prosecuteable.”
Sheriff Kelly believes a connection could exist between some of the cases from the 1990s and he’s re-submitted forensic evidence to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s DNA laboratory, hoping to get a match.
Sgt. Flores has also worked with a cold case squad that includes BCI and current and retired detectives from the police division and the sheriff’s office to compare all open cases for similarities.
Anyone with information about any of these crimes is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 937-521-2050 or Springfield Police at 937-324-7716.
Thelma Gebert, Julie Freeman and Mary Vanculin were all found dead from violent attacks within a nine month period from 1996 to 1997.
A fourth woman, 26-year-old Angela Hall, was found in the C.J. Brown reservoir in 1996, her cause of death ruled drowning and cocaine intoxication. But her family insisted there must have been foul play involved, telling this newspaper at the time that Hall was disabled and didn’t own a car. Someone must have driven her to the reservoir, they said.
She was last seen about a month before her body was found, at a bar on West Main Street, the same area other women went missing from.
“These cases are frustrating in that you would think someone would have witnessed, got some information, would know who this person is who was picking up these women in the early morning hours,” Kelly said.
The other thing that frustrates Kelly is the sudden stop in similar crimes.
If the same person was responsible for the women’s deaths, he wonders what happened after Memorial Day of 1997, when Vanculin’s body was discovered dumped along the railroad tracks at East Possum Road.
“Did this person go to prison? Is he dead? Or did he move to another location and another community has experienced this type of multiple tragedies?” Kelly said.
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