GUILTY OH - Gustave Sapharas, 75, arrested for the 1970 & 1975 Cold case murders, Tallmadge, 10 Sep 2019

[imstilla.grandma]

Authorities say they have made a break in two cold case murders – one of which dates back nearly 50 years.

Tallmadge Police Chief Ronald Williams tells WKYC that Gustave Sapharas was arrested Friday in his Jackson Township home in connection with the 1970 murder of Karen Bentz and the 1975 murder of Loretta Jean Davis.

Bentz’s body was found on Indian Hills Drive in Tallmadge, while Davis was found in Portage County.

Chief Williams would not reveal how they tracked down this suspect, but said it would all come to light through legal proceedings.

Chief Williams also said Sapharas was not surprised by his arrest.
75-year-old man arrested for two Northeast Ohio murders from 1970, 1975

 

[oceanstarryeyes]

And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust

 

[insearchoflight]

Must be DNA? Hope so!! So long sucka

 

[BlackCloud]

Good job LE
I hope that now justice will be served for real (i.e. death sentence or at least LWOP)

 

[Betty P]

Article from the Akron Beacon Journal

Jackson Township man arrested in unsolved murders of 2 Akron-area women in 1970s

Sapharas previously was convicted of the rape of a Cuyahoga Falls woman in 1976 and acquitted of the 1991 murder of a Columbus woman.

So he does have a history of crimes against women. Cuyahoga Falls is close to Akron and Tallmadge, OH.

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Charles Kirkwood said a pre-sentence investigation found Sapharas was not psychotic but was “seriously psychologically disturbed,” according to a Beacon Journal story.

Sapharas, then 32, was the manager of Sapharas Restaurant, his family’s restaurant at 1540 S. Arlington St.

Interesting, a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal reported on two cold cases from 1963 of a boy and a girl who were kidnapped and killed in separate incidents. They were both walking along Arlington St. when they disappeared. Their bodies were found in the areas just east of Akron.

OH - OH - Thomas Sumerix, 15, & Ruth Guthrie, 12, Summit County, June 1963

Not sure why, but I get a vibe from this guy that the age of women victims wasn't very important to him.

He was in prison from 1977 to 1990.

 

[watcher9]

Just added this case to the DNA cold case thread just in case.

DNA Solves Cold Cases/Parabon Nanolabs & GED/Match.

Ohio man, 75, charged with slayings of 2 women from 1970s

 

[watcher9]

Article from the Akron Beacon Journal

Jackson Township man arrested in unsolved murders of 2 Akron-area women in 1970s



So he does have a history of crimes against women. Cuyahoga Falls is close to Akron and Tallmadge, OH.



Interesting, a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal reported on two cold cases from 1963 of a boy and a girl who were kidnapped and killed in separate incidents. They were both walking along Arlington St. when they disappeared. Their bodies were found in the areas just east of Akron.

OH - OH - Thomas Sumerix, 15, & Ruth Guthrie, 12, Summit County, June 1963

Not sure why, but I get a vibe from this guy that the age of women victims wasn't very important to him.

He was in prison from 1977 to 1990.

Thanks for linking this case from 1963.
Hopefully, it will get solved also.

 

[dotr]

This may be way off, but cannot help but think of "Beth Doe" and wonder if there could be a connection to this suspect?
Is he of Greek or similar ethnicity?
speculation, imo.
PA - PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2

5 h 22 min (351.3 mi) via I-80 W
pennsilvania to ohio - Google Search

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“We don’t give up and you never close a murder case,” Tallmadge Police Chief Ron Williams told WJW. “We really represent the victims and in this case, we’re standing up to a bully who brutalized women in the 70s.”

Gustave Sapharas, 75, was arrested without incident at his apartment on Independence Circle Northwest Friday, following an eight-count indictment in Summit County.

"I’m sure he saw it coming. He wasn’t terribly surprised when they came to arrest him," Williams said.

Sapharas is suspected in the murder of Karen Bentz on April 28, 1970. Williams said the 18-year-old from Akron was abducted near Akron City Hospital on East Market Street and then her body was dumped in a berm along Indian Hills Drive in Tallmadge.

The chief said she had been stabbed at least a dozen times and, according to the indictment, Bentz’ body was badly disfigured, suggesting she was tortured before she died.

Sapharas also suspected in the murder of Loretta Jean Davis, 20. She was abducted from Tallmadge and her body was found in Portage County along Congress Lake Road on Sept. 28, 1975.

Tallmadge police told WJW they developed new evidence in 2013 that led them to Sapharas.

Williams said he can’t specifically discus the evidence, but credits, “New technology, a fresh set of eyes and great, great detective work.”

Sapharas was previously convicted of rape in the late 1970s and served time in prison.

More recently he was charged with a different cold case: the 1991 brutal murder of a young mother in Licking County. However, a jury found him not guilty despite his confirmed DNA being found on her body.

Sapharas is currently being held in the Summit County Jail. His indictment includes charges of murder, maiming or disfiguring, aggravated murder, kidnapping and attempted rape.
‘He saw it coming:’ New technology, detective work lead to arrest in 1970s murders

 

[wary]

Suspected killer from Licking County case arrested in another cold case

Mother of murder victim: Suspect's arrest doesn't ease 26 years of pain

These links have info on the murder of Bonita Parker—the case he was acquitted of. It was another stabbing case—

And he was convicted of stabbing yet another woman—possibly not fatally?

.
The not guilty verdict in the Licking Countycase showed jurors doubted that Sapharas murdered Bonita Parker, a 21-year-old mother, in 1991. That acquittal came despite new technology which confirmed Sapharas’ DNA was on the body. Prosecutor Paul Scarcella said “Mr. Sapharas’ seminal fluid was deposited onto the panty hose of Bonita Parker.”

Prosecutors were not permitted to tell the Licking County jury that Sapharas had been convicted of brutally stabbing another woman at his sister’s home in Genoa Township just two weeks after Parker’s body was found in August 1991. The two scenes less than ten miles from each other.

 

[Betty P]

Suspected killer from Licking County case arrested in another cold case

Mother of murder victim: Suspect's arrest doesn't ease 26 years of pain

These links have info on the murder of Bonita Parker—the case he was acquitted of. It was another stabbing case—

And he was convicted of stabbing yet another woman—possibly not fatally?

Yes, it was very disappointing that he was acquitted in that case. It's a warning sign that linking a killer's DNA to a victim may not always result in conviction. As much as the public is relieved to read about the use of DNA to solve more murder cases, it may not always produce the desired result. Prosecutors still have their work cut out for them. Hopefully, it will in most cases, though.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Screams of a half-naked woman covered in blood startled neighbors awake in suburban Columbus on a Friday morning in October 1991.

“Get away from me! Help me!” the woman hollered, slashing at the air with a knife as a naked man — also smeared with blood — hovered over her, trying to force her back inside a posh, five-bedroom home where likely no one could hear her cries.

The woman — with a deep stab wound under her left breast, two slashes to one of her arms and another stab wound to the back — survived.

So did more than a half-dozen other women in Greater Akron and beyond who have told authorities they were brutalized by the same man, Gustave “Gus” Sapharas, over four decades.

Now authorities believe Sapharas also killed at least three women, putting him on a growing list of suspected Northeast Ohio rapists and serial killers whose decades-long pattern of crimes have only recently been discovered.
Suspected murderer from Akron left crime trail spanning decades

 

[wary]

Screams of a half-naked woman covered in blood startled neighbors awake in suburban Columbus on a Friday morning in October 1991.

“Get away from me! Help me!” the woman hollered, slashing at the air with a knife as a naked man — also smeared with blood — hovered over her, trying to force her back inside a posh, five-bedroom home where likely no one could hear her cries.

The woman — with a deep stab wound under her left breast, two slashes to one of her arms and another stab wound to the back — survived.

So did more than a half-dozen other women in Greater Akron and beyond who have told authorities they were brutalized by the same man, Gustave “Gus” Sapharas, over four decades.

Now authorities believe Sapharas also killed at least three women, putting him on a growing list of suspected Northeast Ohio rapists and serial killers whose decades-long pattern of crimes have only recently been discovered.
Suspected murderer from Akron left crime trail spanning decades

Everyone, read the whole article—much more in it, and an appalling failure of the ‘justice’ system, in my opinion.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Everyone, read the whole article—much more in it, and an appalling failure of the ‘justice’ system, in my opinion.

Thank you!

Gustave Sapharas’ brushes with the law:

March 1970: Gustave Sapharas is sentenced to two years’ probation for a May 1969 incident in which he assaulted a 20-year-old Green Township woman who spurned his advances on a date. He was originally charged with assault with the intent to rape and assault with a deadly weapon. Under a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of assault and battery and carrying a concealed weapon.

December 1972: A West Virginia jury deadlocks — and a mistrial is declared — in a case in which Sapharas was accused of the rape and kidnapping of a 22-year-old woman in January 1972.

May 1975: A 20-year-old Akron woman claimed Sapharas raped her at a gravel pit on Home Avenue in Akron. She said he threatened to kill her and had a knife. She jumped out of his car and ran for help outside a Cuyahoga Falls restaurant. He claimed the sex was consensual. (Unclear if he was charged.)

February 1977: Sapharas is sentenced to 15 to 60 years in prison for the October 1976 rape of a 28-year-old Cuyahoga Falls woman.

November 1990: Sapharas is paroled from prison for the 1976 rape case.

October 1991: Sapharas returns to prison for a parole violation.

October 1999: A Summit County judge declared Sapharas a sexually oriented offender.

September 2000: Sapharas is released from prison for his parole violation.

October 2002: Sapharas is released from parole.

February 2018: Sapharas is acquitted of the 1991 killing of a 21-year-old Columbus woman by a Licking County jury. Bonita Davis died from a single stab wound to the heart, with her body dumped along a road.

September 2019: Sapharas is arrested in the unsolved murders of Karen Bentz, 18, of Akron, in 1970, and Loretta Jean Davis, 21, of Brimfield Township, in 1975. Both women were stabbed in the chest and left along the roadside.
Arrest made in 2004 cold case in Talladega County

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[curioustruthseeker]

This may be way off, but cannot help but think of "Beth Doe" and wonder if there could be a connection to this suspect?
Is he of Greek or similar ethnicity?
speculation, imo.
PA - PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2

5 h 22 min (351.3 mi) via I-80 W
pennsilvania to ohio - Google Search

His high school yearbook says his nickname was "The Golden Greek"

 

[dotr]

His high school yearbook says his nickname was "The Golden Greek"

Welcome to Ws curioustruthseeker!
Thanks for the info. maybe his nickname should have been the golden eek instead!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

More than 25 years after a young Columbus woman was found dead near Pataskala, Licking County authorities have made an arrest in her slaying.

Bonita Parker, 21, was found stabbed to death on Aug. 13, 1991, along Mill St. near Rt. 16 in what is now a part of the city. The investigation at the time yielded potential suspects but lacked evidence needed to make an arrest, according to the Licking County sheriff’s office.

On Monday, authorities obtained an arrest warrant for Gustave “Gus” Sapharas, 72, of North Canton, on a charge of murder in the case, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

Parker’s slaying fell within an 11-month period during which Sapharas was on parole from prison, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections records. He was sentenced to prison in 1977 on charges of rape and carrying a concealed weapon in Summit County. Sapharas was paroled in November 1990 before he returned to prison on a parole violation in October 1991, just two months after Parker’s body was found.

That parole violation stemmed from an assault on a female in Delaware County, said Capt. Chris Slayman with the sheriff’s office.

Licking County detectives began reviewing Parker’s case several years ago. In 2009, they resubmitted evidence from the case to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Sapharas’ DNA was found to be associated with Parker’s body, but no other evidence associated him with the homicide, and the case went cold again, according to the sheriff’s office.

Over the past 15 months, detectives worked with BCI to research Sapharas’ background and gather additional evidence connecting him to the crime. When detectives interviewed him at his residence nearly a year ago, he was “deceptive” and “admitted his dishonesty” while being questioned about Parker’s death, the sheriff’s office said.
Arrest made in 1991 Licking County slaying


A Canton-area man was acquitted Thursday in the cold-case murder of a 21-year-old Columbus woman more than 25 years ago.

A jury in Licking County Common Pleas Court delivered the not-guilty verdict to Judge Thomas Marcelain after deliberating for about 40 minutes in the case against Gustave Sapharas, 73.

Sapharas didn’t offer much of a reaction to the verdict, other than asking, “I get to go home now?” after the acquittal was announced and the court proceedings had adjourned. He was handcuffed and prevented from speaking to a reporter by an officer before being released Thursday afternoon from the Licking County Jail, where he had been held for almost a year.

The decision capped two days of testimony and closing arguments by special prosecutor Paul Scarsella and defense attorney Diane Menashe Thursday morning. Licking County Prosecutor Bill Hayes said afterward that he still believed Sapharas was guilty.

“The jury has spoken,” Hayes said. “There were some other things that we could not introduce as evidence from his past that we thought clearly pointed to him.”
Stark County man acquitted in 1991 murder case

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Summit Sheriff Steve Barry said detectives will take another fresh look at the unsolved murder of Kathy Wiltrout Bevington, according to the News 5 Cleveland story.

The 27-year-old mother of two disappeared after leaving her job at a pharmacy on Massillon Road in October of 1972. Her body was found six weeks later by hunters in a wooded area of Kreighbaum Boad in Uniontown. She had been stabbed multiple times.

“What we do is we try to track if we know where the individual has been, in a particular area of the country. Was it in our area at the time of our homicide,” Barry said. “We’ll definitely take a look and see what we can do with it and if there is anything that appears to be similar.”

Barry said investigators don’t have evidence linking Sapharas to Wiltrout Bevington’s murder, but the sheriff believes more background work needs to be done because of the time frame and she died in a similar way to Bentz and Davis.

The victim’s brother, James Wiltrout, said the pain of not knowing who killed Kathy has been very difficult to live with over the past 47 years. The family started a Facebook page about five years ago to keep interest in Wiltrout Bevington’s disappearance.

Regardless of where the new investigation leads, he hopes the killer is arrested one day and that Wiltrout Bevington gets the justice she deserves.

“It has been a long, arduous ordeal. I’d like to see it end in my lifetime,” he said.
Detectives looking at Jackson Township man for another homicide

 

[dotr]

Summit Sheriff Steve Barry said detectives will take another fresh look at the unsolved murder of Kathy Wiltrout Bevington, according to the News 5 Cleveland story.

The 27-year-old mother of two disappeared after leaving her job at a pharmacy on Massillon Road in October of 1972. Her body was found six weeks later by hunters in a wooded area of Kreighbaum Boad in Uniontown. She had been stabbed multiple times.

“What we do is we try to track if we know where the individual has been, in a particular area of the country. Was it in our area at the time of our homicide,” Barry said. “We’ll definitely take a look and see what we can do with it and if there is anything that appears to be similar.”

Barry said investigators don’t have evidence linking Sapharas to Wiltrout Bevington’s murder, but the sheriff believes more background work needs to be done because of the time frame and she died in a similar way to Bentz and Davis.

The victim’s brother, James Wiltrout, said the pain of not knowing who killed Kathy has been very difficult to live with over the past 47 years. The family started a Facebook page about five years ago to keep interest in Wiltrout Bevington’s disappearance.

Regardless of where the new investigation leads, he hopes the killer is arrested one day and that Wiltrout Bevington gets the justice she deserves.

“It has been a long, arduous ordeal. I’d like to see it end in my lifetime,” he said.
Detectives looking at Jackson Township man for another homicide

Ws thread..
OH - OH - Kathy Wiltrout Bevington, 27, Springfield Township, 4 October 1972