Attorney General Mike
DeWine
More
than 1,640 Cases Added
to Ohio Unsolved Homicides Database
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that more than 1,640
cold case homicides have been added to the Ohio Unsolved Homicides
Database since efforts to expand the program were announced last
year.
Attorney General DeWine
asked law enforcement agencies to submit their cold case information
to the online database in September 2012. At the time, there were
only 166 unsolved homicide cases on the site.
Today there are 1,808 cases
in the database.
"Since launching the
database expansion, we have received dozens of tips regarding several
of the listed cases," said Attorney General DeWine. "We
want to keep reminding Ohioans that it is never too late to come
forward with information. Even information that might seem
insignificant could be the detail that breaks a case."
The goal of the Ohio
Unsolved Homicides Initiative is to bring widespread visibility to
unsolved cases, increase the possibility for tips, and help
jurisdictions compare details of unsolved crimes. Agents with the
Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation can also assist
local agencies in investigating unsolved homicides.
Attorney General DeWine
also routinely features cases from the database on the homepage of
the Attorney General's website in an effort to bring that case
increased visibility.
This month's featured case
is the 1994 homicide of Kathryn Menendez, whose unclothed body was
found on an oil well road off Fewtown Road in Portage County.
Menendez had been
strangled, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death. Her clothing has never
been found.
According to information
submitted to the database from the Alliance Police Department, the
victim was reported as a runaway on August 20, 1994, five days before
her body was found. Authorities believe she had been murdered 24 to
48 hours before she was discovered.
Investigators also believe
that Menendez may have been killed in Alliance, Ohio, and her body
was then moved to the location where it was found.
Anyone with information on
this case should contact that Alliance Police Department at
330-821-9140.
Those with information on
this or any other unsolved homicide can contact BCI at 855-BCI-OHIO.
Tips can also be submitted online through the Ohio Attorney General's
website.
Law enforcement agencies
that would like to include their cases in the database should contact
BCI's Jennifer Dillion at 740-845-2000.
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