Deceased/Not Found OH - Peggy Lerch, 25, Columbus, 14 August 1982 *W. Wickline guilty*

Peggy Anne Lerch, 25, Missing since August 14, 1982 from Columbus, OH

Peggy Anne Lerch
Missing since August 14, 1982 from Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: October 15, 1957
Age at Time of Disappearance: 25 years old
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Lerch was last seen at an apartment in Columbus, Ohio on August 14, 1982. Peggy and Christopher Lerch had been at the apartment of William D. Wickline on August 14, 1982.

According to records, Wickline was using cocaine with the couple when he stabbed and decapitated Christopher and strangled Peggy during an argument over $6,000 in drug money.

He then cut up their bodies and disposed of them in dumpsters throughout the city of Columbus, according to investigators.

Wickline was executed for the murders on March 30, 2004.

Wickline was also indicted in West Virginia in April 1985 for the November 1979 decapitation of Charles Morgan Marsh.

The bodies of Peggy and Christopher Lerch were never found.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Columbus Police Department
614-645-4670

Source Information:

William Dean Wickline #906
March 2004 Executions
The Doe Network: Case File 1876DFOH

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1876dfoh.html

My God, if that actually happened, how horrific!

I don't claim to know anything about this sort of thing, but even if the bodies were so dispersed, wouldn't they still be able to find bone fragments and whatnot?

Although this case is considered closed with the murder conviction of William Wickline, the bodies of Christopher and Peggy Lerch have never been found and identified.

http://charleyproject.org/case/peggy-ann-lerch

Peggy Ann Lerch

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Peggy, circa 1982; William Wickline

• Missing Since08/14/1982
• Missing FromColumbus, Ohio
• ClassificationEndangered Missing
• Age24 years old
• Height and WeightUnknown
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair.

Details of Disappearance
Peggy was last seen in Columbus, Ohio on August 14, 1982. She disappeared with her husband, Christopher, and neither of them have ever been heard from again.

William Dean Wickline Jr. was convicted of killing the Lerches in 1985. He was sentenced to life for Christopher's murder and death for Peggy's. He had been their friend, and they were last seen at his apartment, drinking heavily and using cocaine with him.

Wickline's girlfriend, Theresa Kemp, testified that Christopher and Wickline got into an argument over a $6,000 drug debt Christopher owed to Wickline. Wickline slit Christopher's throat, then strangled Peggy, who was sleeping. Kemp stated the bodies were dismembered and put in trash bins all over the city. No body parts were discovered, but authorities found blood in Wickline's bathtub and human tissue adhering to his folding saw.

A photograph of Wickine is posted with this case summary. He was also indicted for an unrelated murder which occured in 1979, but never tried because he was already on death row. He maintained his innocence in the Lerches' cases and was executed in 2004. Christopher and Peggy's remains have never been found.
Investigating Agency

• Columbus Police Department 614-645-4670

Source Information

• The Doe Network
• Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office
• The Akron Beacon Journal
• The Columbus Dispatch
• NewsNet5

State v. Wickline, 50 Ohio St. 3d 114 | Casetext

https://www.drc.ohio.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rQNkLw2EiKM=&portalid=0

CastlesBurning said:

My God, if that actually happened, how horrific!

I don't claim to know anything about this sort of thing, but even if the bodies were so dispersed, wouldn't they still be able to find bone fragments and whatnot?

Click to expand...

I think it is very difficult to find human body parts in a big city and in garbage containers they may be in bags mixed with garbage

How terrible I can't imagine the horror in that apartment blood drugs murder... that William was a monster I hope he is suffering in hell...