OH OH - Kathryn Menendez, 16, & Sarah Boehm, 14, Berlin Reservoir, Jul & Aug 1994

[Syttende]

A few links on the cases...
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030604missing0604p1.asp
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/boehm_s.htm
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=14687162
http://www.beavercountycrimesolvers.com/11001.html (Second from top)
http://unsolveditn.blogspot.com/2009/07/fbi-seeking-information.html

There's not a whole lot out there on these cases, unfortunately. They are very, very cold. I couldn't find any pages on Kathryn Menendez at all, except for what is on FBI.gov.

What do you think could have happened here? How did Sarah Boehm, from Pennsylvania, end up a murder victim from Ohio?

I tried to find info on Sarah Boehm's approx. TOD - there was just nothing. On one of the links, it states that Sarah's remains were "badly decomposed" - which indicates a time of death of maybe a month or two prior? Since the remains were found in November and Sarah disappeared in July... it makes me think that Sarah ran away, was on the run for awhile (perhaps left the state, since her hometown is only 15 miles from the Ohio state border) and then ran into an SK.

 

[JulieR]

This kind of case always makes me think of truck drivers, I wonder if she lived near any area business that had deliveries or pickup the day she went missing.

 

[Jay Christian]

There is a new book on Amazon.com that indicates that a serial killer from Indiana killed Sarah Boehm AND Kathryn Menendez. The book is called:

Urges: A Chronicle of Serial Killer Larry Hall.

I have read this book. I now believe he is responsible for both of these murders. In case you are interested in reading the book, here is the link on Amazon.com:

Amazon.com: Urges: A Chronicle of Serial Killer Larry Hall (9781451589948): Christopher Hawley Martin: Books

Jay Christian

 

[tatertot]

Their cases have been featured on Nancy Grace's site today:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/17/grace.coldcase.boehm.menendez/

 

[hoppyfrog]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/17/grace.coldcase.boehm.menendez/index.html?hpt=T2

17 May 2010

As is the case with so many other "Jane Does'' across the nation, 14-year-old Sarah Boehm's unidentified remains were kept in a cooler at the coroner's office in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

They had been there for more than five years when a breakthrough in 2001 helped turn the case around.

Lt. Kim Clements, a detective with the district attorney's office in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, noticed a description of remains matching the missing teen's as she searched the Doe Network, a website for tracking unidentified and missing persons.

A sample from a femur and a DNA swab from Sarah's mother confirmed the body was Boehm's. She disappeared on July 14, 1994, in Rochester, Pennsylvania.

much more at link

 

[ThePhantom]

Feel like the odds of identifying many of the Jane/John Does are slim to none because their info isn't posted on any online webpages for the public to see.

 

[Mystery Mouse]

There is info on the cold case investigation of Sarah Boehm's death, including a letter that was found under her pillow.


http://www.wtae.com/news/29786584/detail.html

 

[Marilynilpa]

I'm bumping this up since I've just been reading some articles about this case.

<modsnip>

Since both of these girls were found near Berlin Reservoir, it has always been suspected these cases were connected. Seems unlikely two killers picked the same remote location to dump their victims' bodies.

The note left by Sarah sure makes it sound like she planned to leave home and head off on her own. She may have accepted a ride with the killer, thinking she was heading off into her new life instead of riding off into tragedy. That could explain how the poor girl wound up so far from home.

 

[bessie]

Adding some info and updating the FBI link.

Sarah Boehm, a fourteen-year-old female teen, was reported missing by her parents on July 14, 1994, to local law enforcement in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Several months later, on November 4, 1994, Sarah's remains were discovered in the "Berlin Reservoir," located within an Ohio state park, Portage County, Ohio. This rural community in Ohio was located approximately two hours away from the victim's home in Pennsylvania.

Additionally, Kathryn Menendez, another female teen victim, went missing on August 21, 1994, and her nude body was found several days later on an oil road near the "Berlin Reservoir." Kathryn had been strangled to death. Both Sarah and Kathryn's bodies were located approximately 1/2 mile apart in the same Ohio state park. Seventeen-year-old Kathryn was from Portage County, Ohio.


Information is being sought in both cases. Specifically, how Boehm from Pennsylvania ended up murdered in Ohio and information regarding the murder of Menendez. Investigators believe the two cases may be related. The FBI from both Pennsylvania and Ohio have been working closely with local law enforcement from Portage County, Ohio, as well as Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-i...selected-uid=29d5e9c8cdcf5d12cce28ea91362826f

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/kathryn-menendez/person_view_multimedia#images

 

[bessie]

Ohio Unsolved Homicides: Kathryn Menendez

Norwalk Reflector Staff Oct 2, 2013
This month's featured Ohio Unsolved Homicides

Woman found naked had been strangled, stabbed and bludgeoned to death.

Kathy Menendez

* Case number: 207
* Nickname or alias: Kathy
* Incident location: On an oil well road off of Fewtown Rd.
Alliance, Ohio - Portage County
* Incident date: 8/20/1994 - 8/25/1994 (Approximate)
* Homicide date: Unknown
* Date of birth: 5/24/1977
* Gender: Female
* Race/Ethnicity: White
* Height: 5'04"
* Weight: 124
* Hair color: Brown
* Eye color: Brown
* Law enforcement agency: Alliance Police Department

More than 1,640 Cases Added to Ohio Unsolved Homicides Database

Published: October 1, 2013 4:00AM

COLUMBUS -- More than 1,640 cold case homicides have been added to the Ohio Unsolved Homicides Database since efforts to expand the program were announced last year. That includes the unsolved 1994 murder of Kathryn Menendez, whose body was found in Deerfield.

Today there are 1,808 cases in the database

 

[Richrd]

PA - Sarah Rae Boehm, 14 - Case Presented at October 2014 Symposium

November 1, 1014: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/w...n-still-haunts-detective/stories/201410300282:

By Andrew Gall - Assistant Chief of Detectives - Beaver County (PA) District Attorney’s Office

Finding Closure — The Science, Law and Politics of Cold Case Investigations

14th Annual Conference Presented by the

Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law at Duquesne.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

FBI Investigating Cold Case Involving Local Teenager

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/11/06/fbi-investigating-cold-case-involving-local-teenager/

Boehm was 14 years old when she disappeared in July of 1994. She was last seen leaving her home in Rochester, Beaver County, late at night.

Hunters discovered her remains five months later in Portage County, Ohio, not far from the remains of 17-year-old Kathryn Menenez, who went missing one month after Boehm did.

The FBI says they have no evidence linking the two murders. But they&#8217;re heading back to the scene next Friday; this time, with a trained &#8220;evidence response team&#8221; in hopes they&#8217;ll find new evidence that will help them crack the case.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

FBI Investigating Cold Case Involving Local Teenager

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/11/06/fbi-investigating-cold-case-involving-local-teenager/

See also:

http://www.cleveland19.com/clip/11989040/fbi-police-seeking-answers-in-2-unsolved-murders

 

[Owutatangledweb]

I wonderif both casesare related to the suspected Ohio highway serial killer. State route 224 appears to be a short way from where the bodies were found in Berlin Reservoir. There was a body found 8 years earlier off state route 224 in Medina county, ohio, and one about 20 minutes south of there off interstate 71.

Shirley Dean Taylor, age 26, body found July 20, 1986 on Route 224 in Medina County, Ohio.

April Barnett, age 19, found December 4, 1986 along I-71 in Ashland County, Ohio.

---

 

[Owutatangledweb]

This is where I got the two women's' names:

http://murderpedia.org/male.G/g/goble-sean-patrick.htm

 

[LR1]

I wonderif both casesare related to the suspected Ohio highway serial killer. State route 224 appears to be a short way from where the bodies were found in Berlin Reservoir. There was a body found 8 years earlier off state route 224 in Medina county, ohio, and one about 20 minutes south of there off interstate 71.

Shirley Dean Taylor, age 26, body found July 20, 1986 on Route 224 in Medina County, Ohio.

April Barnett, age 19, found December 4, 1986 along I-71 in Ashland County, Ohio.

---

My guess would be no. The ones found along the interstates and truck stops appear to be a truck driver. Unless he lived in the area and used a smaller vehicle to dispose, I cant see him driving his rig to that place off Fewtown Rd. I read where Kathryn was a chronic runaway though so hitchhiking is a possibility.

I keep seeing them mention they don't know if there connected. From what I've seen and read the last few days I can't see how they're not connected.

 

[LR1]

https://www.fbi.gov/cleveland/press...rs-seek-information-in-two-unsolved-homicides

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), along with the Alliance Police Department and Portage County Sheriff’s Office, is seeking the public’s assistance in the unsolved murder of Kathryn Menendez.

Kathryn, 17 years old, was last sent on August 21, 1994 in the Alliance, Ohio area. Her body was found four days later, on August 25, 1994 near the Berlin Reservoir on an oil well access road. Kathryn had been strangled to death and left unclothed. A little over two months later, November 4, 1994, another young female’s nude body was discovered approximately half a mile from Kathryn’s remains. This second female was not identified through DNA until 2003 as Sarah Rae Boehm. Sarah, 14 years old, had been missing from the Beaver County, Pennsylvania area since July 14, 1994. Beaver County is approximately a two-hour drive from the Berlin, Ohio Reservoir area. The Detective Bureau of the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office, Pittsburgh Division of the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have been investigating Sarah’s disappearance since July 1994.

It is unknown if these two unsolved murders are connected or not. Investigators continue to work both cases and consult with one another each step of the way, investigators here in Ohio and investigators in Pennsylvania. This week law enforcement will use advanced investigative technology to re-search the sites where Kathryn and Sarah’s remains were discovered in hopes of finding additional clues that may not have been uncovered in 1994.

Law enforcement continues to ask the public to report any information they may have regarding the disappearance and murder of either of these two young females to Alliance Police Department at 330-821-9140, Portage County Sheriff’s Office at 330-296-5100, or the FBI at 216-522-1400. Tips can remain anonymous and reward money is available for information leading to the successful identification and prosecution of the individual(s) responsible for these murders.

 

[LR1]

I thought this was interesting too,

When Sarah’s remains were discovered, the hoop earrings she always wore were missing, and hair was found nearby that investigators deemed did not come from Sarah.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/r...eaver-County-murder-case/stories/201511060270

 

[passionflower]

cold case.............new evidence found and taken to FBI lab
new technology opening the case up!
WPXI.com

 

[Maplesyrup]

I have thought a long while before posting this as I'm not sure it can really help anything. I used to travel through that area as a young college co-ed in the late 1980's [I would have been 20-21 yrs old] and was on my way home to my parents house on a Friday evening. I am unsure of the year since it has been so long ago but it was evening, around 5pm and it was still light out. The leaves were off of the trees and the corn was all cut off, fields were bare. So this means it had to be late autumn or just before spring due to it still being light at that hour and nothing growing yet. It was late 1987 or early 1988. Somewhere very near the Deerfield Circle I became aware of a car following me. It is a long desolate stretch of road in places along State Route 14 headed toward Salem. I realized this man with short dark hair was paying attention to me. He sped up and I assumed he was going to pass me. As I looked in my rearview mirror he put dark sunglasses on so I could not see his eyes. Then he dropped back. Other cars would meet us [driving toward us]. Then when no one was around he came up close behind me again and then dropped back. At some point he drove fast around me and then hit his breaks to slow me down. There were desolate side roads leading through empty fields off into the distance both ways. I had the strong feeling he was trying to get me to stop, pull over or turn off onto one of those side roads away from where anyone could see. I slowed down and he was creeping in front of me looking at me in his rearview mirror. I dropped back and he sped up. This went on all the way to the state route 45 bypass just outside of Salem. He was still in front of me and watched to see if I turned left or right. I had already made my mind up I wasn't going to lead him to my parents home. I was headed for the Salem Police Dept! I drove into Salem on State Route 14 [with him in front of me] and just before we came to a light on State Street, he abruptly pulled into a gas station on the right side of the road. He wanted to get behind me at that light and knew if he was in front and turned one direction, that I would likely go the opposite direction to get a way from him. As I was in line at the traffic light with a few other cars ahead of me waiting for it to turn green, I looked over my right shoulder at him in his car. The sunglasses were off and he was glaring at me with such anger in his eyes. His eyes were so dark and evil looking. The hair was short, dark brown or nearly black. He was actually not bad looking and could easily be seen as your average clean cut guy. He hopped back into line two cars behind me and followed me down side streets through Salem to the police dept. I was shaking and terrified. When I pulled into the lot at the police dept and into a parking space... he stopped on the street and stared at me and suddenly sped away when he realized it was the police station. He looked furious. It was clear looking at his eyes. He wanted me and I have no doubt I wouldn't have met a good ending if he had succeeded in capturing me. I ran in the door and told an officer. I was too afraid to think to get his plate number. An officer drove around the block a couple times and never saw a car matching his description. A half hour or so later an officer escorted me out of town. When it was clear that I was safe, and no one was following that fit the guy's description, the officer turned off and I drove on to my parents house. I remember this guy was in a small silver car that was in decent shape. This was definitely not a road rage incident. I did nothing to this guy but I evidently caught his eye somewhere near Deerfield and he followed me all the way to the Salem Police dept. I have always wondered who this lunatic was. I know I was blessed and so fortunate that I escaped. I just wanted to put this out there. Clearly this guy was dangerous and certainly did not have good intentions. Peace.