Details: In Ohio, police are searching for a serial killer who is suspected of murdering at least eight prostitutes throughout the state. On April 19, 1990, the body of an unidentified white female was found off of Interstate 75 behind a truck stop. She had been beaten to death. All of her jewelry and some of her clothing were missing. Four years earlier, on July 20, 1985, the body of twenty-three-year-old prostitute Shirley Dean Taylor was found behind a guardrail on the same interstate, about 100 miles away from the 1990 murder location. She had also been beaten to death and her jewelry and some of her clothes were missing.
Although the two cases at first seemed to be completely isolated crimes, investigative reporter Michael Berens was able to use newspaper reports and other evidence to link the two cases together along with several other unsolved murders in Ohio. Eight women were found either beaten or strangled to death along a major interstate, jewelry and clothing were removed from each body, each of the identified victims were suspected to be prostitutes, and each of those women were believed to work at truck stops.
<img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/unsolvedmysteries/images/3/3f/Prostitute_serial_killer3_map.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/245?cb=20180509002027" alt="Prostitute serial killer3 map" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Prostitute_serial_killer3_map.jpg" data-image-name="Prostitute serial killer3 map.jpg" width="245" height="201" >
Map of where victims were dumped
Berens later went undercover to find more information about the murders and the victims. As the majority of the "johns" were teamsters who used CB radios to communicate alongside the highway, Berens learned that the prostitutes would use CB radios in order to advertise their services. It is believed that the killer used a two-way radio in order to attract a prostitute, posing as a potential customer. Once inside his truck, the killer would murder his victim and discard her body in a remote location somewhere along the interstate.
On February 8, 1987, twenty-seven-year-old Anna Marie Patterson became the sixth victim of the killer. She was last seen getting into a black or dark blue Peterbilt truck at a stop in Austintown. Earlier that night, she had received a call from a trucker with the CB handle "Dr. No". She initially turned him down because she, along with several other prostitutes, were afraid of him. She also had problems with him in the past. However, it is believed that she later went with him that night. She was never seen alive again.
Anna Marie's body was located twenty-five days later in a drainage ditch along Interstate 71, north of Cincinnati. The spot was about 250 miles from where she was last seen. An autopsy determined that she had been killed within forty-eight hours of her disappearance. Surprisingly, the autopsy also suggested that the killer kept her body in his refrigerated truck for almost a month.
Berens determined that the first victim of the killer was a woman who was found in 1981 and has never been identified. Then, during the next nine years, the bodies of seven more women would be found, all suspected to be victims of the same killer. Most vanished from rest stops in Austintown, Ohio. The other victims included: twenty-five-year-old Marcia Matthews, who vanished from a Mansfield truck stop and was found on June 12, 1985, just off I-70 in Richland County; eighteen-year-old April Barnett, who was found on December 3, 1985, strangled and dumped behind a guardrail in Ashland County; an unidentified woman found on August 10, 1987, in Englewood; and twenty-six-year-old Kathryn Hill, who was found on November 5, 1990, in the parking lot a Lake Township hotel.
Three other women found along interstates in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York were also believed to be victims of the killer. Twenty-six-year-old Jill Allen was found strangled to death in Springfield, Illinois on December 19, 1986. Nineteen-year-old Lamonica Cole was found dead at the rear of a truck stop in Breezewood, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1987; a scarf was found stuffed in her throat. Finally, thirty-one-year-old Terry Roarke was found dead in Saratoga County, New York on March 29, 1988; she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
On March 10, 1991, Beren's article was published in Ohio newspapers. It detailed compelling evidence that suggested the eight victims were all killed by the same individual. Ten days later, the Ohio Attorney General's office started a task force investigating the murders.
Berens noted that the bodies were dumped in different police jurisdictions. He believes that the killer may have been a former police officer or security guard, familiar with the problems of communication between these jurisdictions. Two of the victims were last seen getting into a dark blue or black Peterbilt truck with a refrigerated trailer. His possible C.B. handles are "Dr. No", "Stargazer", and "Dragon." He is described as being between twenty-five and forty (in 1987), having dark hair, and possibly being of Middle-Eastern descent. He has never been identified and the murders remain unsolved. Investigators have noted that semen was recovered from five of the crime scenes, which could be used to help identify the perpetrator(s).
Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the February 19, 1992 episode.
Results: Unresolved. Amazingly, all of the unidentified victims profiled in the segment have since been identified. In 2010, the woman found on August 10, 1987, was identified as Paula Beverly Davis, who vanished from Missouri in 1987. Another victim was identified in February of 2013 as Sharon Lynn Kedzierski, who had vanished in October of 1989 from Florida. In 2017, the woman found on April, 19, 1990, also known as "Hebron Jane Doe", was identified as Patrice Corley. In 2018, the woman found on April 24, 1981, also known as the "Buckskin Girl", was identified as Marcia King of Arkansas.
Even before Sharon was identified, her killer was determined to be Dennis Hetzel who was indicted for her murder in 1993. He later died in prison. However, new evidence has disputed this conclusion. As for Paula, authorities believe she was the victim of serial killer Lorenzo Gilyard. It is uncertain whether the other murders are connected to either Hetzel or Gilyard. Many investigators believe that the other murders may be related to other cases throughout the United States.
Several truck drivers have been looked at as suspects in these cases. In 1991, investigators looked into Alvin Wilson, a truck driver who abducted, raped, and choked a prostitute from Akron. However, he was in jail when one of the murders occurred. It is unknown if he was connected to any other cases.
Another suspect is James Robert Cruz, a truck driver who lived in Ohio and murdered a teenager in Pennsylvania in 1993. Investigators noted that the Ohio murders stopped around the time that he was arrested. They also noted that his victim was killed in a similar manner as the Ohio victims. However, Cruz was never charged in any of the Ohio cases.
Yet another suspect is Sean Patrick Goble, a truck driver who committed murders in Tennessee and North Carolina during the mid-1990s. Some of his victims were prostitutes, and they were killed in a manner similar to the Ohio victims. He also drove a Peterbilt truck, which was the same truck that the Ohio killer drove. However, Goble was also never charged in the Ohio cases.
In February of 2019, yet another suspect emerged in this case. Forty-nine-year-old truck driver Samuel W. Legg was arrested and charged with raping a seventeen-year-old woman near a rest area in Ohio. He was also charged with Sharon Lynn Kedzierski's murder. DNA evidence linked him to the murder, along with two others in Ohio and one in Illinois. All of the victims were found near truck stops, either nude or partially clothed. There has been some speculation that he is the killer in the other Ohio prostitute murder cases. However, it is believed that he was too young to have committed the murders that occurred in the mid-1980s. He has not been charged in any other cases.
Links:
Although the two cases at first seemed to be completely isolated crimes, investigative reporter Michael Berens was able to use newspaper reports and other evidence to link the two cases together along with several other unsolved murders in Ohio. Eight women were found either beaten or strangled to death along a major interstate, jewelry and clothing were removed from each body, each of the identified victims were suspected to be prostitutes, and each of those women were believed to work at truck stops.
<img src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/unsolvedmysteries/images/3/3f/Prostitute_serial_killer3_map.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/245?cb=20180509002027" alt="Prostitute serial killer3 map" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Prostitute_serial_killer3_map.jpg" data-image-name="Prostitute serial killer3 map.jpg" width="245" height="201" >Map of where victims were dumped
Berens later went undercover to find more information about the murders and the victims. As the majority of the "johns" were teamsters who used CB radios to communicate alongside the highway, Berens learned that the prostitutes would use CB radios in order to advertise their services. It is believed that the killer used a two-way radio in order to attract a prostitute, posing as a potential customer. Once inside his truck, the killer would murder his victim and discard her body in a remote location somewhere along the interstate.
On February 8, 1987, twenty-seven-year-old Anna Marie Patterson became the sixth victim of the killer. She was last seen getting into a black or dark blue Peterbilt truck at a stop in Austintown. Earlier that night, she had received a call from a trucker with the CB handle "Dr. No". She initially turned him down because she, along with several other prostitutes, were afraid of him. She also had problems with him in the past. However, it is believed that she later went with him that night. She was never seen alive again.
Anna Marie's body was located twenty-five days later in a drainage ditch along Interstate 71, north of Cincinnati. The spot was about 250 miles from where she was last seen. An autopsy determined that she had been killed within forty-eight hours of her disappearance. Surprisingly, the autopsy also suggested that the killer kept her body in his refrigerated truck for almost a month.
Berens determined that the first victim of the killer was a woman who was found in 1981 and has never been identified. Then, during the next nine years, the bodies of seven more women would be found, all suspected to be victims of the same killer. Most vanished from rest stops in Austintown, Ohio. The other victims included: twenty-five-year-old Marcia Matthews, who vanished from a Mansfield truck stop and was found on June 12, 1985, just off I-70 in Richland County; eighteen-year-old April Barnett, who was found on December 3, 1985, strangled and dumped behind a guardrail in Ashland County; an unidentified woman found on August 10, 1987, in Englewood; and twenty-six-year-old Kathryn Hill, who was found on November 5, 1990, in the parking lot a Lake Township hotel.
Three other women found along interstates in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York were also believed to be victims of the killer. Twenty-six-year-old Jill Allen was found strangled to death in Springfield, Illinois on December 19, 1986. Nineteen-year-old Lamonica Cole was found dead at the rear of a truck stop in Breezewood, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1987; a scarf was found stuffed in her throat. Finally, thirty-one-year-old Terry Roarke was found dead in Saratoga County, New York on March 29, 1988; she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
On March 10, 1991, Beren's article was published in Ohio newspapers. It detailed compelling evidence that suggested the eight victims were all killed by the same individual. Ten days later, the Ohio Attorney General's office started a task force investigating the murders.
Berens noted that the bodies were dumped in different police jurisdictions. He believes that the killer may have been a former police officer or security guard, familiar with the problems of communication between these jurisdictions. Two of the victims were last seen getting into a dark blue or black Peterbilt truck with a refrigerated trailer. His possible C.B. handles are "Dr. No", "Stargazer", and "Dragon." He is described as being between twenty-five and forty (in 1987), having dark hair, and possibly being of Middle-Eastern descent. He has never been identified and the murders remain unsolved. Investigators have noted that semen was recovered from five of the crime scenes, which could be used to help identify the perpetrator(s).
Extra Notes: The case was featured as a part of the February 19, 1992 episode.
Results: Unresolved. Amazingly, all of the unidentified victims profiled in the segment have since been identified. In 2010, the woman found on August 10, 1987, was identified as Paula Beverly Davis, who vanished from Missouri in 1987. Another victim was identified in February of 2013 as Sharon Lynn Kedzierski, who had vanished in October of 1989 from Florida. In 2017, the woman found on April, 19, 1990, also known as "Hebron Jane Doe", was identified as Patrice Corley. In 2018, the woman found on April 24, 1981, also known as the "Buckskin Girl", was identified as Marcia King of Arkansas.
Even before Sharon was identified, her killer was determined to be Dennis Hetzel who was indicted for her murder in 1993. He later died in prison. However, new evidence has disputed this conclusion. As for Paula, authorities believe she was the victim of serial killer Lorenzo Gilyard. It is uncertain whether the other murders are connected to either Hetzel or Gilyard. Many investigators believe that the other murders may be related to other cases throughout the United States.
Several truck drivers have been looked at as suspects in these cases. In 1991, investigators looked into Alvin Wilson, a truck driver who abducted, raped, and choked a prostitute from Akron. However, he was in jail when one of the murders occurred. It is unknown if he was connected to any other cases.
Another suspect is James Robert Cruz, a truck driver who lived in Ohio and murdered a teenager in Pennsylvania in 1993. Investigators noted that the Ohio murders stopped around the time that he was arrested. They also noted that his victim was killed in a similar manner as the Ohio victims. However, Cruz was never charged in any of the Ohio cases.
Yet another suspect is Sean Patrick Goble, a truck driver who committed murders in Tennessee and North Carolina during the mid-1990s. Some of his victims were prostitutes, and they were killed in a manner similar to the Ohio victims. He also drove a Peterbilt truck, which was the same truck that the Ohio killer drove. However, Goble was also never charged in the Ohio cases.
In February of 2019, yet another suspect emerged in this case. Forty-nine-year-old truck driver Samuel W. Legg was arrested and charged with raping a seventeen-year-old woman near a rest area in Ohio. He was also charged with Sharon Lynn Kedzierski's murder. DNA evidence linked him to the murder, along with two others in Ohio and one in Illinois. All of the victims were found near truck stops, either nude or partially clothed. There has been some speculation that he is the killer in the other Ohio prostitute murder cases. However, it is believed that he was too young to have committed the murders that occurred in the mid-1980s. He has not been charged in any other cases.
Links:
- Prostitute Serial Killer on Unsolved.com
- I-71 murder victim talked with police before disappearing
- Mysterious 'Dr. No' sought in Ohio truck stop prostitute murder probe
- Dead prostitute ignored job-related fear
- Prostitute killings had link to county
- Body trail prompts fear of serial killer (Part 1) (Part 2)
