OH OH- Mary Petry, 20, & William J. Sproat, 22, bound w. metal coat hangers, S.A., stabbed & bludgeoned w, bowling ball, OSU, 28 Feb '70, *DNA, REWARD*

[dotr]

Mary Petry and Bill Sproat - Google Search

July 28, 2009

$5K Reward Offered In Double Slaying Near OSU Campus

Investigators say there's reason to believe someone has information about the 1970 slaying of a couple. Find out why.

www.10tv.com

''On Feb. 28, 1970, the bodies of William Sproat and his girlfriend, Mary Petry, were discovered inside an apartment on West Eighth Avenue.''
''Sproat, 23, an Ohio State graduate student, and Petry, 20, were both stabbed multiple times and bound with metal coat hangers, police said.

​

A bowling ball was also used to smash the skull of one of the victims, Hogan reported.
The couple's bodies were discovered by Sproat's roommate.
During the course of the investigation, police were able to recover physical and DNA evidence from the crime scene.''

Photos | Cold case: 1970 slayings of Mary Petry, William Sproat

Photos | Cold case: 1970 slayings of Mary Petry, William Sproat

www.dispatch.com

Mar. 3, 2020

These five coat hangers and a 12-inch knife were used in the slayings of Mary Petry and William Sproat. Columbus police displayed them to the media on March 3, 1970, two days after the couple’s bodies were found. [Dispatch file photo]
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

The building at 178 West 8th Avenue appears to still house rental apartments, as seen in this Google StreetView photo from July 2019.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Columbus police released this wanted poster in the slayings of Mary Petry and William Sproat.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

[MadMcGoo]

Mar 02, 1970, page 4 - Birmingham Post-Herald at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from Birmingham Post-Herald dated Mar 02, 1970, page 4.

www.newspapers.com

The Cincinnati Enquirer 12 Mar 1970, page Page 3 - Newspapers.com

Mar 02, 1970, page 1 - Chillicothe Gazette at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from Chillicothe Gazette dated Mar 02, 1970, page 1.

www.newspapers.com

Mar 05, 1970, page 16 - The Newark Advocate at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from The Newark Advocate dated Mar 05, 1970, page 16.

www.newspapers.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

William Joseph Sproat Jr. (1947-1970) - Find a...

Murdered along with his girlfriend Mary Jane Petry at his college apartment in Columbus, Ohio. Their murders remain unsolved to this day.

www.findagrave.com

I found a lovely picture of Mary on a public Ancestry tree.


It sounds like they have enough to identify the person(s) who did this. I hope they can be brought to justice!

 

[Vern]

An NPR podcast on these murders out today:

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1185803905/mary-bill-an-ohio-cold-case

 

[CastlesBurning]

As Ohio true crime podcast wraps up, new hope for solving a cold case

 

[dotr]

As Ohio true crime podcast wraps up, new hope for solving a cold case

Hopefully the perp is still alive and if so, the info from the link ought to make them very nervous, imo.

“There is really great DNA evidence in this case, and there’s actually more DNA evidence than they even originally thought. The evidence in this case has been really well preserved and just a couple weeks ago, lab technicians were in that evidence box getting more DNA from the suspected perpetrator. And as we know, when you’ve got DNA in this day and age, there’s a really good chance, especially if that’s high quality DNA, that the case can be solved.”

 

[Richard]

Mary Jane Petry​

BIRTH 12 Oct 1949 Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio, USA
DEATH 27 Feb 1970 (aged 20) Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, USA
BURIAL Greenlawn Cemetery Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio, USA

LINK:

Mary Jane Petry (1949-1970) - Find a Grave...

Born on 12 Oct 1949. Died on 27 Feb 1970. Buried in Portsmouth, Ohio, USA.

www.findagrave.com

 

[Richard]

William Joseph Sproat Jr.​

BIRTH 1947 Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
DEATH 28 Feb 1970 (aged 22–23) Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, USA
BURIAL Cremated

LINK:

William Joseph Sproat Jr. (1947-1970) - Find a...

Murdered along with his girlfriend Mary Jane Petry at his college apartment in Columbus, Ohio. Their murders remain unsolved to this day.

www.findagrave.com

 

[Oakie]

Let's hope there is a resolution...keep us updated!

 

[rosesfromangels]

If you look at the news story, it REALLY bothers me that young children were allowed to stand and watch as the murdered couple were removed from the house. I mean, what in heaven's name were people thinking?!?!?! Those kids are probably still in therapy.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[dotr]

July 28, 2009

$5K Reward Offered In Double Slaying Near OSU Campus

Investigators say there's reason to believe someone has information about the 1970 slaying of a couple. Find out why.

www.10tv.com

''Investigators do have reason to believe that someone has more information about the slaying,Hogan reported.
After a 10TV report three years ago, Central Ohio Crime Stoppers received numerous phone callsabout the case. One of those tips matched information in the case file.
"You get a tip like that (and) right away it jumps out at you," Taylor said. "Maybe I need totalk to this person personally."

Article clipped from The Cincinnati Enquirer

Clipping found in The Cincinnati Enquirer published in Cincinnati, Ohio on 3/2/1970.

www.newspapers.com

''Joseph student William Sproat Xavier University graduate 'No Solid Suspects' Yet In OSU Double Slaying "No solid suspects" have been found in the brutal murders of a Xavier University graduate and his girlfriend, a student at Mt. St. Joseph College in Cincinnati, Columbus police said Sunday. Homicide Lt. Robert Ruddock, in charge of the 18-man investigation, said: "We do have some leads.

We're checking some particular people we have files on who might be capable of this kind of offense, people who frequent the campus area." The bodies of William Sproat, 23, of Haverford, Pa., and Mary Petry. 20, of Portsmouth, were found stabbed, strangled and beaten In Sproat's apartment, near the Ohio State University campus Saturday. Sproat was in OSU Graduate School. Miss Petry, a junior honor student at Mt. St.

Joseph, had been beaten about the head and body, stabbed, and perhaps sexually assaulted, police said. Her assailant had apparently beaten her with a bowling ball found near her body in Sproat's bedroom, Ruddock said. Both victims were fully clothed, Ruddock said. "We're exploring the avenue of a sexual psychopath," he added, "but we're not ruling out robbery as a motive either." There are Indications of items" missing from the apartment, he said. Sproat was stabbed repeatedly in the back, bound tightly about the hands, feet and neck with coat hangers and strangled, police reported His roommate, Thomas McCuigan also a graduate student from Havertown, found the bodies about noon Saturday.

He told police he had spent Friday night with friends. There were no Indications of forced entry and it appeared the victims offered little resistance. Neighbors told police they heard no unusual sounds during the night.''

 

[LucyOso]

Hoping DNA finds the killer.

 

[Betty P]

An NPR podcast on these murders out today:

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1185803905/mary-bill-an-ohio-cold-case

Thanks Vern, I was looking for that.

I hope Columbus PD spends the money for DNA analysis.

 

[Betty P]

July 28, 2009

$5K Reward Offered In Double Slaying Near OSU Campus

Investigators say there's reason to believe someone has information about the 1970 slaying of a couple. Find out why.

www.10tv.com

''Investigators do have reason to believe that someone has more information about the slaying,Hogan reported.
After a 10TV report three years ago, Central Ohio Crime Stoppers received numerous phone callsabout the case. One of those tips matched information in the case file.
"You get a tip like that (and) right away it jumps out at you," Taylor said. "Maybe I need totalk to this person personally."

Article clipped from The Cincinnati Enquirer

Clipping found in The Cincinnati Enquirer published in Cincinnati, Ohio on 3/2/1970.

www.newspapers.com

View attachment 453425
''Joseph student William Sproat Xavier University graduate 'No Solid Suspects' Yet In OSU Double Slaying "No solid suspects" have been found in the brutal murders of a Xavier University graduate and his girlfriend, a student at Mt. St. Joseph College in Cincinnati, Columbus police said Sunday. Homicide Lt. Robert Ruddock, in charge of the 18-man investigation, said: "We do have some leads.

We're checking some particular people we have files on who might be capable of this kind of offense, people who frequent the campus area." The bodies of William Sproat, 23, of Haverford, Pa., and Mary Petry. 20, of Portsmouth, were found stabbed, strangled and beaten In Sproat's apartment, near the Ohio State University campus Saturday. Sproat was in OSU Graduate School. Miss Petry, a junior honor student at Mt. St.

Joseph, had been beaten about the head and body, stabbed, and perhaps sexually assaulted, police said. Her assailant had apparently beaten her with a bowling ball found near her body in Sproat's bedroom, Ruddock said. Both victims were fully clothed, Ruddock said. "We're exploring the avenue of a sexual psychopath," he added, "but we're not ruling out robbery as a motive either." There are Indications of items" missing from the apartment, he said. Sproat was stabbed repeatedly in the back, bound tightly about the hands, feet and neck with coat hangers and strangled, police reported His roommate, Thomas McCuigan also a graduate student from Havertown, found the bodies about noon Saturday.

He told police he had spent Friday night with friends. There were no Indications of forced entry and it appeared the victims offered little resistance. Neighbors told police they heard no unusual sounds during the night.''

This article is inaccurate in some aspects, saying both victims were fully clothed. It also says Bill was stabbed repeatedly in the back. The police report states his throat was cut. Perhaps the police were keeping some details from the public.

I hope Columbus PD spends the money for DNA analysis. It sounds like they should be able to do it. In the Lantern article, it said something about LE wanting to eliminate 2 other suspects before they tested DNA. Why? The DNA testing will give them the answer. Columbus PD is a well-funded department, thanks to all the students, the university and businesses in the area. It's the least they can do, JMO.

The tragedy of Bill and Mary: an Ohio State cold case, revisited

The Independent Student Voice of Ohio State

www.thelantern.com

It doesn't say in the article, but it sounds as though the killer may have used items from Bill's apartment as murder weapons - coat hangers, a steak knife and a bowling ball. That sometimes means the killer hadn't gone there intending to murder anyone. I wonder if it was one of the local rapists who, upon seeing Bill's roommate leave, assumed that Mary was there alone. He may not have realized there were two men who lived in the apartment.

Mary was only undressed from the waist down, obviously because she was sexually assaulted. It also meant that Mary was fully dressed before the attack. That could mean that the attack happened earlier in the evening - after Bill's roommate left but before Bill and Mary went to bed for the night.

Using wire coat hangers to "tie up" the victims, JMO, indicates someone who had hands strong enough to do that. While those kind of hangers might be somewhat easy to unbend, twisting them tight enough to bind a strong young man would require some strength, right?

I also wonder about the lack of forced entry. Perhaps there was an unlocked door. It just seems unlikely, JMO, that an attacker, who likely wasn't carrying a weapon when he arrived, would willingly try to talk or force his way into an apartment to rape a woman when her boyfriend was present.

JMO, some murders on college campuses back then became cold cases. Some universities were concerned about their reputations.

Murder of Jane Britton - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article182486586.html

 

[Betty P]

Bill's police report

Mary's police report

 

[Betty P]

I'm listening to the podcast. There's been discussion in news and the podcast that the killer committed the crime at a multi-unit apartment dwelling (actually and old house converted to apartments). People wonder why the killer took such a risk, on a Friday night when others were around. My guesses:

• He felt comfortable in the area, was familiar with it
• He probably had done this before - at least the entering for SA and/or burglary
• His original plan was for SA only, which he had probably done before and knew how to keep a lone woman quiet. He was surprised by Bill being there and had to resort to murder. IOW, the killer took a big risk with others around, but he "didn't have a choice". Of course he did, but he didn't see it that way. He could have just left.

JMO, so far, this guy was a rapist with experience and was familiar with the area and how to commit the crime and leave without being noticed. He was also in a low income job, hence the need to steal what little money the victims had. His primary motive, though was SA

 

[nao]

Moo...in those years acid, psychedelic drugs were more common. Just trying to think of college lifestyle back then.

 

[Betty P]

Moo...in those years acid, psychedelic drugs were more common. Just trying to think of college lifestyle back then.

• The podcaster had a doctor (pathologist? ME?) review the autopsy reports for both Mary and Bill. They were much more detailed and different from the COD given in the police report. Both victims were stabbed multiple times. Both victims, she seemed to think, probably died from strangulation. There was no cutting of the throat. The coat hanger wires on Bill were quite extensive. It was the ME's opinion (and I agree) that both of these were sexually motivated murders. The killer spent quite a bit of time with the victims, injuring them in various ways before finally killing them. She said the strangulation death is often a signature of sexual killers. The ME said if she were investigating this case today, she would have recommended a rape kit on Bill as well.
• Both victims had cloth bindings used to gag or strangle them
• A former resident of the apartment building where Bill lived said that in the 70's there was an enclosed back stairway to the building with doors that opened to apartments. Most of the locks were broken and many of the light bulbs in the stairway were burned out. So, yes, it was a very insecure building. A witness in the building that night heard music playing in the apartment, not too loud, but enough to possibly cover noise of the murders.
• Mary had called another girl on campus to see about staying in her dorm overnight, so Mary wasn't planning to spend the night with Bill.

LSD can cause some people to engage in psychotic, eccentric behavior, but it doesn't usually trigger sadistic, sexual murders. Probably the opposite.

I have the impression from LE and victims friends and family talking that Bill's roommate has been considered a suspect by LE, even though he had a very good alibi. Poor guy. JMO, LE didn't understand enough about the nature of the crime to realize the type of killer they should have been looking for. They were fixated on thinking the killer knew the victims. There's much talk of these being "crimes of passion". I think its easily easily confused when its a crime of extreme sexual motivation, which is a completely different thing.

I'm on to listen to the last episode.

 

[Betty P]

The last episode was mostly the podcast reporter and the family members waiting for Columbus PD to do something with the DNA evidence. They sort of stonewalled and stalled for the better part of 2 years. They did finally convince themselves that Bill's poor roommate didn't do it. They just weren't going to give up on that and probably harassed that man for most of his life since 1970. It was fairly obvious he wasn't involved. LE even treated the podcaster's father as a suspect during the investigation, simply because he was friends with Bill's roommate and had gone over to the apartment as soon as Bill called after finding the bodies. He went there with his girlfriend (podcaster's mom) and several of her female roommates.

Apparently, Columbus PD did finally submit DNA for forensic genealogy, after taking a year or more to run it through Ohio's database and through CODIS. They submitted it to a company in Utah back in July 2023, so hopefully there will be answers before the end of 2024 /s.

JMO, just a guess, but it will be someone they heard of during the original investigation. That's usually the case.

ETA: I in correctly quoted the new ME the podcaster consulted about whether the killer was known to the victim. She said its possible. JMO, if it is someone known to the victims, it was only in a distant, peripheral way. Not a friend, family member, close aquaintence, etc.

 

[SkyBoomer]

As Ohio true crime podcast wraps up, new hope for solving a cold case

Taking a break from Gaza and about to tuck in for a listen now. Thank you for the link!