KS KS - Tirell Ocobock, 18, Topeka, 26 April 1976

[nursebeeme]

http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=11536213

http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=11536213

Shawnee County authorities have decided to reopen the investigation into a 1976 murder of an 18-year-old woman.
The sheriff's department on Wednesday announced that it was seeking the public's help in trying to solve the death of Tirell D. Ocobock.
She was beaten to death and her body was discovered on April 26, 1976, in Topeka.
The sheriff's department did not say what prompted it to reopen the case, but asked anyone who had information to call the Crime Stoppers tip line.
Johanna Ocobock, Tirell's mother, says she does not know why officers reopened the case

http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=11536213

also, looks like the case was hot in 2000:

((lots of details here)):

Tirell D. Ocobock, 18, whose body was found in April 1976 near S.W. 2nd and Urish Road. She had been beaten to death.
Christie said the department had assigned a full-time investigator to the case and followed up about 150 leads in the past three months. Christie said detectives hoped to take advantage of advancements in forensic technology that enhance the chance of identifying the killer.
Ocobock's body was found April 26, 1976, at the side of a dirt road in what investigators said was commonly known as a lovers' lane. She was naked from the waist up and lying near old auto parts in a roadside dump area. Detectives said three bloody tree limbs found at the site may have been used to kill her.
Authorities also found a sweater, large denim purse and small brown dog near the body of Ocobock, who had been employed at an animal hospital and was a freshman at Washburn University. The dog was taken to a humane shelter.
Ocobock had been last seen alive at about 7:15 a.m. at her home on the day she died. Her body was found just before 2 p.m.
Christie said Tuesday that the Capital Area Major Case Squad initially investigated the case. More than $8,000 in rewards was offered, but no arrests have been made.
Further probes were later conducted by the sheriff's department and Kansas Department of Investigation. Authorities tried unsuccessfully during the 1980s and 1990s to link serial killer Tony Joe LaRette to the slaying. LaRette, who lived in Topeka at times during the 1970s, was executed in 1995 in Missouri for a murder committed in 1980 in St. Charles, Mo.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20001220/ai_n11754408/

http://cjonline.com/news/local/2009-11-18/time_hasnt_eased_cold_case_pain
this link has her picture

 

[OkieGranny]

From October 2014:

http://cjonline.com/news/2014-10-12...t-hesitate-call-tips-about-unsolved-homicides

Searcy also is associate producer of the Capital Cold Case TV program, which seeks information about unsolved murders committed in the Topeka-Shawnee County area. Following airing of the first episode in 2010 about the slayings of Jackie Hay, 5, who disappeared in 1981 and was never found, and Tirell Ocobock, 18, who was slain in 1976, investigators got 27 tips about those two cases.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Kansas 'cold case' playing cards could help solve Topeka killings

Tirell Ocobock was beaten to death 46 years ago this week in Shawnee County.

Still, members of her family haven't given up hope that her killer will one day be brought to justice.

Family members are glad Ocobock is among victims highlighted in a deck of "cold case" playing cards being handed out to Kansas jail and prison inmates, her sister, Raena Sommers, told The Capital-Journal on Tuesday.

"Our family appreciates the efforts of law enforcement to keep Tirell's case in the public eye," she said. "The cold case playing card concept is a creative approach which we hope will lead to results."

What are Cold Case Playing Cards?
Ocobock's photo appears and information about her case is shared on the Queen of Diamonds in the deck, which highlights cold case homicides, missing persons and suspicious deaths.

She is among eight victims of homicides committed in Topeka and Shawnee County whose names and images appear on the cards, which will be distributed among jail and prison inmates in hopes they'll stimulate conversation about the cases and perhaps motivate inmates to provide tips to law enforcement.

The cards were created by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Kansas Department of Corrections, working in partnership with the Kansas Sheriff's Association, Kansas Peace Officers Association and Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police.

.....

The oldest case spotlighted is the killing of Ocobock, an 18-year-old freshman art student at Washburn University, who was beaten to death with tree limbs on April 26, 1976.

Ocobock was last seen alive preparing to walk about four miles from her home at 1208 S.E. Monroe to return a small puppy to the veterinary hospital where she worked in west Topeka.

Her lifeless, partially clad body was found later that day near S.W. 2nd and Urish Road. The puppy was taken from the scene to an animal shelter.

Ocobock's name is misspelled on the card, but officials say they plan to correct it.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spon...nnects-families-like-never-before/7194371001/

 

[imstilla.grandma]

It’s been nearly 50 years since a teenager was found dead along a rural road just outside Topeka.

The 1976 killing of 18-year-old Tirell Ocobock is the oldest case in the Kansas Cold Case Deck. The special set of playing cards from the Kansas Dept. of Corrections aimed at generating new tips in unsolved crimes.

Raena Ocobock Sommers was only 10-years-old when her big sister was killed. Family photos show them smiling alongside their two other sisters and their parents.

“I always think of Tirell as laughing,” Raena said. “She was many things: creative; an animal lover; she was fond of the arts; independent. She was a lot of fun. She was always singing and joking. She was a great big sister.

The laughter ended April 26, 1976. Tirell’s body was found near SW 2nd and Urish Rd., just of Topeka’s city limits.

Det. John Culver of the Shawnee Co. Sheriff’s Office continues investigating the case today.

“(Tirell) was found badly beaten and partially nude,” he said. “She also had multiple puncture wounds to her body that came from a very unique type of tool.”

Raena said she remembers very clearly waking up to all the people at their house the morning the news came…

Kansas Cold Cases: Tirell Ocobock

It’s been nearly 50 years since a teenager was found dead along a rural road just outside Topeka.

www.wibw.com