OH OH - Bratenahl, Lake Erie, WhtFem 33-37, 885UFOH, 'Lady of the Lake', Sep'34

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The remains of a woman washed up on the shore of Lake Erie in Bratenahl, Ohio. She known as The Lady of the Lake. She was likely killed by a unidentified serial killer who terrorized Cleveland area from 1935 to 1938. The unidentified serial killer is dubbed Kingsbury Run Murders or Cleveland Torso Murders. The killings claimed at least 12 to as high as 40. Two suspects have been mentioned, Frank Dolezal and Dr. Francis E. Sweeney. Some think this could be work of multiple killers. Some think The Black Dahlia is connected to the Cleveland Torso Murders.

Date of Discovery: September 5, 1934
Location of Discovery: Bratenahl, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Estimated Date of Death: 3 to 4 months prior
State of Remains: Partial torso only
Cause of Death: Homicide

The Lady of the Lake Profile
Estimated Age: Mid 30s
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

http://doenetwork.org/cases/885ufoh.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/unsolved/kingsbury/index_1.html
Cleveland Torso Murderer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Sad thing is, the Lady of the Lake isn't the only unidentified victim of the Cleveland Torso Murderer. Ten out of the twelve ''canonical'' victims remain unidentified (eleven out of thirteen if you count the Lady in, since she's not actually a confirmed victim).

Sorry for hijacking the thread with other UIDs, but I'm looking at missing persons from the 1930s and a few look a bit promising. Neither are the Lady of the Lake but I think they could be victims of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, canonical or not:

This girl isn't a candidate for the Lady since she disappeared three years after the body was found, but Ruth Baumgardner vanished from Ohio in 1937 and has never been located. I don't know the stats of the other Jane Does but maybe Ruth was one of the murderer's victims? She disappeared from Delaware, Ohio - two hours from Cleveland:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1800dfoh.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2797/2/
This man, Joseph Halpern, disappeared in 1933 but some reports place him in different states in 1934 and 1935. It's possible that he joined the Lewis Brothers Circus. Maybe he was in Ohio at some point? This site (http://www.circushistory.org/Routes/LewisBros.htm) has a list of stops the Lewis Brother Circus made and there are a total of 94 stops in Ohio from 1938 - 1940.

I don't think the killer will ever be found; it's been 70 years and I'm positive that at least some important evidence has been lost. And any close relatives of these victims are likely to be dead. But if a great-grandparent of mine went missing 70+ years ago, I'd want to know what happened to them...
 
Sad thing is, the Lady of the Lake isn't the only unidentified victim of the Cleveland Torso Murderer. Ten out of the twelve ''canonical'' victims remain unidentified (eleven out of thirteen if you count the Lady in, since she's not actually a confirmed victim).

Sorry for hijacking the thread with other UIDs, but I'm looking at missing persons from the 1930s and a few look a bit promising. Neither are the Lady of the Lake but I think they could be victims of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, canonical or not:

This girl isn't a candidate for the Lady since she disappeared three years after the body was found, but Ruth Baumgardner vanished from Ohio in 1937 and has never been located. I don't know the stats of the other Jane Does but maybe Ruth was one of the murderer's victims? She disappeared from Delaware, Ohio - two hours from Cleveland:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1800dfoh.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2797/2/
This man, Joseph Halpern, disappeared in 1933 but some reports place him in different states in 1934 and 1935. It's possible that he joined the Lewis Brothers Circus. Maybe he was in Ohio at some point? This site (http://www.circushistory.org/Routes/LewisBros.htm) has a list of stops the Lewis Brother Circus made and there are a total of 94 stops in Ohio from 1938 - 1940.

I don't think the killer will ever be found; it's been 70 years and I'm positive that at least some important evidence has been lost. And any close relatives of these victims are likely to be dead. But if a great-grandparent of mine went missing 70+ years ago, I'd want to know what happened to them...

I am aware of unidentified victims of the Cleveland Torso Murders. The reason I posted this one was it was the oldest from Ohio at the Doe Network website.

The killer(s) are dead, so there will be no charges against them.
 
Date of Discovery: September 5, 1934
Location of Discovery: Bratenahl, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Estimated Date of Death: 3 to 4 months prior
State of Remains: Partial torso only
Cause of Death: Homicide

The Lady of the Lake Profile
Estimated Age: Mid 30s
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Although it was unknown at the time, the upper half of the torso had been found 30 miles east and two weeks previous in North Perry, Ohio. The man who found it originally thought it was part of an animal but contacted authorities when he heard about the Euclid Beach find. The two halves matched. In late July, a little girl wading off shore nearer the city also claimed that she had stepped on a human leg in the water but it was never found. Further searches into the month of September only turned up a portion of an upper arm off Euclid Beach that probably belonged to the victim. The head, lower legs and the rest of the arms were never found.
 
A bump for the Lady of the Lake.

I finally got a hand on the graphic novel Torso last year, and thought I might as well give you guys a book tip, these times considered ;)

Written by Brian Michael Bendis (known for several Marvel comics) and illustrated by Marc Andreyko, Torso tells the story of the hunt for The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, told through the investigation led by Eliot Ness. Of course certain artistic liberties have been taken in order to tell the story, but all in all it is a thrilling take on the unsolved murders.



Torso by Brian Michael Bendis


~


Just a wee thought that popped in: From what I understand, the Lady of the Lake (as well as most of the other victims) is buried in the Highland Park Cemetery, so unless her DNA is too deteriorated, she could actually have a chance for identification due to genealogy research from the DNA Doe Project, Parabon Nanolabs, etc.
 

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