OH OH - Marion Brubaker, 12, Coventry Township, 27 Aug 1962

Marion's father was Rev Clair D Brubaker. He said, God did not take her, sin in a human heart took her, not God.

Marion had 3 sisters aging in range from 6 to 15 years old.

Detectives questioned the 220 lb, 5" 9" ,15 year old boy who reported finding her naked body and he took a lie detector test. LE was reluctant to discuss the results of the polygraph and said they wanted more details and he was the only one in the area when she died.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AoNAAAAIBAJ&dq=marion brubaker&pg=758,4581589

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...QNAAAAIBAJ&dq=marion brubaker&pg=2870,1833472

March 7, 1964
Over 300 people were questioned in the death of Marion Brubaker. She had a large gash on her head but death was caused by strangulation. She was NOT sexually assaulted.

William Lewis said he talked to Marion then pushed her off her bike . He said he killed her because he was afraid she would tell her father that he hit her. Lewis had been separated from his wife for about a year. He said he hid her bicycle and ran to his sister's house when he heard the sirens. They said Lewis had a history of mental problems and had been picked up and sent to a mental hospital in 1956.

He was arrested but I believe I read an article that said he was later released.

This is another article about the peddler who confessed to killing Marion.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&dq=marion brubaker ohio&pg=3495,3852399

There was an article a couple of weeks ago about the Marion Brubaker case. It is the 50th anniversary of the murder and it is still unsolved.

http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/histo...slaying-recalled-on-50th-anniversary-1.329781

I don't know if it's true that she wasn't sexually assaulted. There's a map that shows where she was found with a gash on her head, strangled. Her clothes had been torn off of her.

Hope remains in 52-year-old cold case murder
Mike O'Mara, WKYC 8:25 p.m. EST
November 19, 2014


AKRON -- Marion Brubaker, a seventh grade student, strangled on her way home from the library back in August of 1962. Her bicycle was found 20 feet from her partially naked body. Her three library books on the ground.

[...]

No one was ever indicted for her murder. Half a century later, her old bicycle is still sitting in the property room with all the case evidence. The Summit County Prosecutor's Office still keeps an active file on Marion's murder.

[...]

If her attacker's skin tissue is still under Marion's fingernails, there's a good chance the technicians can identify the suspect.

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12-year-old girl's body exhumed in 52-year-old Coventry Township murder case
By Adam Ferrise, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on November 14, 2014 at 3:50 PM, updated November 14, 2014 at 5:02 PM

[...]

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh and Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler wanted to perform a second autopsy on Marion Brubaker, who was found naked and strangled on Aug. 27, 1962 in a wooded area across from 3208 South Main Street in Coventry Township, according to court filings.

[...]

Investigators want to check the girl's fingernails to see if there is any DNA that matches a suspect in the case, court records say.

[...]

The suspect is a 67-year-old man who was 15 at the time of Brubaker's death, according to court records. He found Brubaker's body and failed three lie-detector tests during the investigation, according to court records.

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The second linked article also says the 15-year-old's buttons were torn off his shirt, he had scratches on his right hand, and his zipper was down .

Local history: Coventry girl’s slaying recalled on 50th anniversary
By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: August 26, 2012 - 11:20 PM

[...]

One suspect was the 15-year-old boy who reported finding Marion’s body. Officers quizzed the Coventry High School student repeatedly, including an eight-hour session that lasted until midnight.

At one point during the grilling, the boy reportedly said of the slaying: “If I did it, I don’t remember it.” Deputies charged him with delinquency, saying he gave “false information,” and took him to the detention home, but he eventually was released.

Marion Brubaker

http://www.wtam.com/articles/wtam-local-news-122520/dna-tested-in-1962-murder-probe-12991212

http://columbiadailyherald.com/news...dna-tests-will-determine-who-killed-girl-1962

But in the Brubaker case, the 1962 files include unpublished typewritten memos written by the newspaper’s reporters and editors in the days after the killing. They are held in Beacon Journal files and marked “Confidential For Staff Only.” The documents reveal unpublished insights into the crime...

The teenage boy was bored that day and told police he passed the time going into the woods about 3:30 p.m. He said he happened upon Marion’s bike, but didn’t notice her body. He then walked toward a field where a man was plowing on a tractor shortly after 4. The man later told police it appeared that the boy was wiping his brow with a handkerchief. On the way back inside the woods, the boy said he then saw Marion’s body and rushed home... “It’s hard to put anyone else in there but him,” a reporter’s memo quotes Campbell as saying...

“APD thinks (deputies) did a shoddy job at crime scene. No ropes, no coroner, no FBI lab,” a reporter wrote in a Sept. 4, 1962 office memo. The memos show a growing discord between deputies — not accustomed to high-profile murder cases — and Akron’s detectives, who appear anxious to take over the case.

Click to expand...

So reminds me of the case of the little Carol Ann Dougherty's murder in 1962. Carol Ann was riding her bike to return library books, took a detour to church, and was found murdered inside the church. Probably not the same murdered, but chilling nonetheless.

Tragic case,

It sure sounds like the suspect 15 years old at the time, is Marion's killer:

This is a link about her body being exhumed for testing. The article says that fingernail scrapings were never collected as evidence, until this new inquiry.

http://www.cleveland.com/akron/index.ssf/2014/11/12-year-old_girls_body_exhumed.html

I read that during his interrogation he said, "If I did it, I don't remember it." That "If I did it" statement although circumstantial in nature seems to strike me as him beating around the bush, and being close to confessing. Just have that feeling. This suspect was too close to events leading up to Marion's death to be purely coincidental.

Satch

We just did a podcast on Marion if you'd like to give a listen. Ohio Mysteries, available on most popular podcast platforms. You can also find a direct link, photos, newspaper clippings and other material at our website, Home. Would be nice to see some closure on this sad case.

Satch said:

Tragic case,

It sure sounds like the suspect 15 years old at the time, is Marion's killer:

This is a link about her body being exhumed for testing. The article says that fingernail scrapings were never collected as evidence, until this new inquiry.

12-year-old girl's body exhumed in 52-year-old Coventry Township murder case

I read that during his interrogation he said, "If I did it, I don't remember it." That "If I did it" statement although circumstantial in nature seems to strike me as him beating around the bush, and being close to confessing. Just have that feeling. This suspect was too close to events leading up to Marion's death to be purely coincidental.

Satch

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, they also believe she was knocked unconscious before anything happened, which makes me think it would be unlikely she was awake to scratch anyone. Probably why the sheriff never announced any findings after exhuming the body in 2014.

Ohio Mysteries said:

We just did a podcast on Marion if you'd like to give a listen. Ohio Mysteries, available on most popular podcast platforms. You can also find a direct link, photos, newspaper clippings and other material at our website, Home. Would be nice to see some closure on this sad case.

Click to expand...

Going to listen. Thanks for sharing!

Reminds me of the Steven Truscott case; young teen boy and 12 year old girl with bike in the woods. According to the podcast, Marion was a chronic nail biter so it's doubtful LE will find anything under her nails. It would also make it impossible for her to have scratched the boy. I never lose hope with these old cases though.

Summit County's four cold case exhumations yield different results

1962: Marion Brubaker, 12, of Coventry Township was killed while riding her bike through some woods near her home. Her body was exhumed in 2014. No additional evidence was found.