OH OH - Kurt Sova, 17, vanished from a party, body found in ravine, 23 Oct 1981 *fresh initiative*

[Betty P]

My info came from the thread, what I could find online. The forensic references are also from easily searched info online. Glad you are taking a look. This case needs more eyes on it.

Amateur opinion and speculation

As you all say, this seems to be one of those cases where some people know what happened. They need to come forward.

 

[rosesfromangels]

As you all say, this seems to be one of those cases where some people know what happened. They need to come forward.

They are likely too scared. This case is very dark and ominous. I get the creeps just thinking about it, and that’s rare for me.
Dark stuff.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Betty P]

They are likely too scared. This case is very dark and ominous. I get the creeps just thinking about it, and that’s rare for me.
Dark stuff.

Amateur opinion and speculation

It's been a long time, though. Chances are, any person they might fear from those days is either deceased or too far advanced in age to be a threat.

 

[tilomagnet]

May 21 2022 rbbm.
by: Peggy Gallek
Investigators seeking answers in 1981 mysterious death case
''Police say Dorothy devoted years of time looking into her son’s death, leaving detectives pages and pages of details notes about what she found.

About three years ago, her notebook was taken out of the evidence box and read by a criminal justice professor and a dozen students at Tiffin University who analyzed evidence in the case.

.....

Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy says those notes are a huge help to investigators who are still trying to crack the case and determine if Sova met with foul play before his death.

“We traveled three states away for polygraphs,” Majoy said. “We traveled hundreds of miles and put in thousands of hours of work on this case, which had not been done up until now.”

In the past three years, Newburgh Heights police have interviewed several of the witnesses, but they say they are still not sure exactly how the teenager died.

It is great there are new initiatives to finally solve this. BUT....they are still using polygraphs to clear suspects in 2022? wow !!!

 

[dotr]

Uncovering lies to solve a cold case: Experts reveal challenges at CrowdSolve

Cold cases present many challenges for investigators. Uncovering lies from decades ago is one of them. 19 News caught up with a former US Marshal and FBI agent at CrowdSolve to ask them how they detect deception.

www.cleveland19.com

rbbm,
By Sara Goldenberg Feb. 27, 2020
“Focus on the language itself. Because people's words will betray them,” said retired Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Mark McClish.''

“People will always word their statement based on all their knowledge. Which means their statement may contain information which they did not intend to share,” he said.

McClish said the most common form of lying is by omission.

He focuses on words more than body language.

19 Investigates asked him how statements from Kurt's case hold up today.

''Would a polygraph from the 1980s still be as accurate as it would be today?” Investigative Reporter Sara Goldenberg asked.

“A good test done then should hold its water today, however you would need to look at the charts, the results. You would need to look at the way the exam was conducted,” Cherry replied.''

Cherry believes the polygraph can play a role in Kurt Sova's case moving forward.''

 

[rosesfromangels]

I like how this retired Marshall is thinking. Maybe the family could enlist him as a consultant.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[bhobbs765]

Did they ever find Craig Franco's killer? I have been looking but can't seem to find anything on this.

Craig H. Franko is the only Franco (*diff. spelling) that I could find info about from that area.
A 20-year-old by that name was shot and killed during a robbery at a filling station in '81; a woman confessed in '86 while in prison for stabbing her husband to death.

 

[Betty P]

Craig H. Franko is the only Franco (*diff. spelling) that I could find info about from that area.
A 20-year-old by that name was shot and killed during a robbery at a filling station in '81; a woman confessed in '86 while in prison for stabbing her husband to death.

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Judge Ann Dyke presided over the woman killer's arraignment. Haven't thought of Judge Dyke in years, knew her well. She's retired now.

Reading Carmen Marino's name reminded me of the Lisa Pruett murder in Shaker Heights, still unsolved. We should start a thread for her here at WS.

 

[dotr]

Judge Ann Dyke presided over the woman killer's arraignment. Haven't thought of Judge Dyke in years, knew her well. She's retired now.

Reading Carmen Marino's name reminded me of the Lisa Pruett murder in Shaker Heights, still unsolved. We should start a thread for her here at WS.

OH - OH- Lisa Pruett,16, Ivy League bound, snuck out from home to meet bf; found fatally stabbed (22x), near his home, SHAKER HEIGHTS, 14 Sep, 1990.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/saturday-marks-29-years-since-lisa-pruett-murder/95-8e7a5f45-9cbf-46c4-9e6e-fd842ec3b18d : Andrew Horansky September 13, 2019...

www.websleuths.com

 

[Betty P]

OH - OH- Lisa Pruett,16, Ivy League bound, snuck out from home to meet bf; found fatally stabbed (22x), near his home, SHAKER HEIGHTS, 14 Sep, 1990.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/saturday-marks-29-years-since-lisa-pruett-murder/95-8e7a5f45-9cbf-46c4-9e6e-fd842ec3b18d : Andrew Horansky September 13, 2019...

www.websleuths.com

Thanks! I did a search last week but didn't find it. I need to sharpen my search skills

 

[dotr]

Thanks! I did a search last week but didn't find it. I need to sharpen my search skills

Newly started thread, but hard to find additional info.

 

[Sweetluv]

October 23, 1981 ...thinking of Kurt!
Hoping someone does the right thing and comes forward with what really happened to him!

 

[Sweetluv]

The "party people" need to be re interviewed....
I believe more than one person knows what happened to Kurt.

 

[Lindseybeth1020]

I live and work in Cleveland Ohio, about 15 mins away from this crime scene.

This is a case that I have done HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS sleuthing on. No crime scene pictures (except Kurt in the ravine, no interviews of the party throwers or party goers).

I did do a little digging and found out that the brother and sister that threw the party and called Kurt's Mother saying he was alright days after he disappeared and, in their basement, days after the party (a cot was found in the basement, however no Kurt.)

I found and tracked down Samuel Clayton, brother of the party thrower and he has not messaged me back. He and his sister now live in Tennessee.

The brother and sister's names are named in the Unsolved Mysteries episode. I am not giving out information that is not public knowledge.

 

[dotr]

Oct 28, 2024
The mystery of what happened to teenager Kurt Sova continues 43 years later

 

[tilomagnet]

The fact that he was apparently kept alive for a couple days and the very possible connection to the Eugene Kvit case make me believe there was something really sinister going on here.

I do not think this is a case where some kid accidently overdosed at a party and his peers panicked and hid the body.

A very baffling case, I hope it does get resolved someday. Reading between the lines, I guess LE was way over their heads with this one (missing crime scene photos ect)

 

[JSolt1210]

It's been a while since I've visited this case, and I could've sworn Kurt Sova had a much longer thread on this site—and that I even commented on it in the past—but I guess it's been deleted?

I don't know if I can add any new speculation at this point, but here are my thoughts:

I think the simplest and likeliest explanation is that Kurt Sova fell into an alcoholic coma after drinking Everclear at the party in the duplex. Since he was still breathing, the residents assumed he had just passed out so they let him sleep it off in the basement in the cot.

Maybe they tried to care for him over the weekend, but when Monday came, the residents had to go back to work so they couldn't check on him regularly and he died. I don't think he choked on his own vomit because there was no evidence of this at autopsy, so I think he died from brain damage, organ failure, respiratory depression, or any of the other consequences associated with alcoholic intoxication.

I think this explains the residents' ever-evolving story. It changed so many times as the situation deteriorated in the basement. The residents first said Kurt was never there because they didn't want to get in trouble for hosting underage drinking. They figured Kurt would wake up soon and they could just swear him to secrecy.

When Kurt wasn't waking up, they had to admit he was at the party because by this point people were starting to say they saw him there. However, they tried to deflect attention away from the duplex by saying Kurt got sick and just walked off.

Kurt probably died Monday night into Tuesday morning. When the residents realized this (on Tuesday evening?), they were forced to come up with something in case the police searched the house and found evidence of him. So they called very early on Wednesday morning and basically said, "hey, we think someone's been sleeping in the basement" (an oddly specific detail). "Maybe it's Kurt; come get him!"

The original plan, made in desperation, could've been to allow Kurt's own family to "discover" him in the basement, with the residents pretending not to know how he got there. After all, they didn't directly kill him so what could they blamed for? However, the holes in this story soon became apparent. If they suspected an intruder was sleeping in their house, why not call the police first instead of the family of some random missing boy you claimed was never there? So they decided to dispose of him quickly before Kurt's family could come.

I don't think there's any connection with Eugene Kvet.

That UM segment always stayed with me.