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hello everyone and welcome back to another True Crime Mysteries video thank you all for being here
today we're discussing another cold case solved by DNA and this time another serial killer who
may have been active in the late 70s and 80s has possibly been identified let's get into it
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thank you nineteen-year-old Cheryl Thompson was described as a sweet and kind woman by her friends
and family in early 1978 Cheryl was a student at the University of Cincinnati it was in her
first year of her studies Cheryl had taken well to Student Life and made lots of friends like
most students Cheryl liked to unwind at local bars and clubs when not studying or attending classes
in March 1978 tragedy would befall the Thompson family and would take four decades before the
family finally got some answers the end of March 1978 marked the beginning of Spring Break droves
of students left their dorms and studies behind to spend the next week or two soaking up the sunshine
and letting their hair down for Cheryl Thompson spring break meant only one thing family time
she made the short trip from her dorm at the University of Cincinnati to her parents house
in Oakley a suburb of Cincinnati she spent the first part of the week with her family and also
used the time to catch up with old friends the high school buddies discussed what college was
like for them and what their Futures may look like it was a Friday night on March
24 1978. Cheryl spent most of the day at the family home before deciding to hit the bars
of Oakley there was a disco at Gatsby's bar and Cheryl agreed to meet her boyfriend there
at 10 30 PM Cheryl left the house saying goodbye to her little brother Danny shortly before leaving
Cheryl received a call from her friend Laura bressert who had initially agreed to attend
the Disco but at the last minute Laura backed out and even begged Cheryl to follow suit Laura would
later tell news outlets quote I begged her on the phone not to go because I had a bad feeling
Cheryl ignored Laura's advice and headed for the bar by midnight Cheryl's boyfriend had
become worried Cheryl had never arrived at the bar and had an uneasy feeling to overcome him
he began to search the bar and walked the entire route from the bar to Cheryl's parents house but
there was no sign of her news outlets reported that Cheryl's boyfriend found her car parked
in a street close to the bar according to the news the boyfriend collected a second pair of
keys from Cheryl's brother and quote moved it to a legal parking space and continued his search
at around 5 30 am he spotted something bizarre cruising down the road was a strange looking
man when Cheryl's boyfriend looked again he realized the man was driving Cheryl's car
he began chasing the man on foot but was unsuccessful losing the car near Hyde Park
Plaza the bizarre events of the evening had left Cheryl's boyfriend reeling and by early
morning he had arrived at her parents house to tell them the bad news Cheryl's parents knew
something was amiss when she failed to return home that morning finding that her bed had
not been slept in her parents were faced with the difficult task of reporting their daughter missing
the Loveland Police Department arrived at the Thompson home to take statements and evidence
and the search for Cheryl began officers retrace Cheryl's steps but found no sign of her there was
no evidence to suggest that she'd ever made it to the bar so where was she the University
of Cincinnati confirmed that Cheryl never made it to any of her classes once spring break was
over investigators did not believe that Cheryl had run away law enforcement found her vehicle parked
near the bar the next day the car other than being abandoned showed no signs of anything suspicious
two weeks later on April 8 1978 a state natural resource officer Mike cerio
was making his rounds on the bank of the Little Miami River close to e Kemper Road
he was looking for the owners of two cars parked near the riverbank it was his job to make sure
anyone fishing in the area had the correct licenses it was as he was walking that he saw
something in the brush it was a foot upon further examination he realized it was the body of a woman
the Loveland Police Department was immediately summoned to the scene and everyone's worst
fears were confirmed the police confirmed that the body belonged to the missing 19 year old
Cheryl Thompson and she'd been found partially clothed before being dumped close to the river
the Hamilton County Chiefs deputy coroner Dr Paul Jolly performed Cheryl's autopsy in his report he
noted that Cheryl had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and had been strangled and sexually
assaulted the brutality of Cheryl's death shocked her family as well as the residents of Oakley
sure had been an average 19 year old University student who would want to harm her and why
residents tighten their security measures and women were more cautious of unknown men
Cheryl Thompson's brutal murder wasn't the only one that rocked Hamilton as well
as surrounding counties in 1978 shortly after Cheryl's body had been discovered news reports
began connecting Cheryl's case to others in the area according to this report at least 15 other
girls and women were found murdered between 1976 and 1978 all under similar circumstances
the list reported goes as follows Lisa Jansen 12 years old Charmaine stolla 17 years old
Nancy and Theobald 18 years old Diane Sue mccrobi 16 years old Elaine bear 15 years old
Nancy gritsby 23 years old Victoria hincher 24 years old Dorothy Sullivan 18 years old
Linda Dyer 15 years old Mary Ruth Hopkins 21 years old Carol Sue klabler 16 years old unidentified
25. Susan Gorman 19 years old Linda K Harmon 17 years old Cora Ellen Durham 27 years old
Hamilton residents feared a serial killer was on the loose and nobody knew who could be next
in 1978 DNA evidence was not yet available however the coroner Dr jolly and crime scene investigators
obtained swabs from Cheryl's body to preserve for future use one of these swabs was what was
now commonly referred to as sexual assault kid Dr Jolly cannot establish an exact time
of death although he believed she'd been there for around three days Shara had been missing for much
longer than three days so what had happened to her during that time Cheryl's boyfriend was thoroughly
interrogated in question he was eventually dropped as a possible suspect investigators combed through
mountains paperwork looking for a golden clue but Cheryl's case quickly turned cold for decades
the swab kit sat in paper bags in the evidence Locker of the Loveland Police Department office
Cheryl's murder left a hole in her family's lives she never finished her degree started a
family or bought a home the anniversary of her murder was a painful reminder to her family in
2012 a glimmer of hope came when the Loveland PD decided to reopen the case the DNA samples
had been sitting on shelves were once again analyzed this analysis led to the discovery
of a partial DNA profile the profile was submitted to CODIS but unfortunately there were no matches
Loveland investigators felt that they were back to square one they now had a DNA profile
but needed help figuring out who it belonged to in 2012 the Loveland PD decided to submit
the swab to a third party ancestry database after seeing the success that it brung to cases such as
the Golden State killer the exact company used was not specified when these DNA samples were
sent off for analysis The company took just a few weeks to narrow it down to a single family tree
a brother cousin and an uncle from this family agreed to submit to a DNA test which eventually
ruled them out as suspects genealogists were able to tick off male members of the family until they
reached one name Ralph Howell Howell had been employed as a delivery truck driver for the
Cincinnati Enquirer and was an over-the-road truck driver died in 1985 in a car crash but
his criminal history cemented him as a primary suspect two years before his death in 1983 Hal
picked up a woman on the side of the road but of the pretense that he would drive her home
shortly after entering the vehicle Howell pounced on the woman throwing a rope around her neck and
strangling her fortunately the one was able to escape and reported the incident to the police
disturbingly Hal was able to negotiate his charges eventually settling on the
charges of unlawful restraint which was a misdemeanor Howell was now free to do as he
pleased knowing that he would only be sentenced to misdemeanor charges investigators believed
that this was not Howell's first crime but it was the first time he'd been caught
in the wake of the DNA analysis Ralph Howell's body was exhumed and a sample
of his DNA was obtained from his Jawbone this sample was sequenced and in November 2022 the
Loveland Police Department in cooperation with other agencies posthumously charged
Ralph Howell with sexual assault and murder of 19 year old Cheryl Thompson
whilst Ralph is no longer with us this conviction brings some closure to Cheryl's family
Cheryl's brother Bill told the media in a statement on behalf of the family quote
we are glad my sister's killer is dead and can't hurt anyone else as a small family we're still
glad that they finally got some closure Hamilton County prosecutor Joe deters told the media
there's no doubt in our mind that Ralph Howe was a serial killer along with the murder of Cheryl
Thompson Ralph is believed to have murdered a 17 year old Charmaine stolla murdered in 1978
18 year old Nancy and Theobald murdered in 1977 and 24 year old Victoria hincher murdered in 1976.
unfortunately DNA was not recovered from these victims at the time of their murder
making it unlikely that law enforcement will be able to positively link Ralph
Howell to the murders conclusively however due to the circumstances of all three murders and
their closeness to Cheryl's murder they are confident that all four are connected at this
time it is unclear if the Loveland PD will go forward in trying to exhume these victims
due to his employment in the trucking industry law enforcement has stated that there may be
other victims outside of the region where Howell lived they will go forward and submit
his DNA nationally to see if there are any more victims connected to him now that we're
here and you have some closure how does this feel for you no it feels incredible I mean I
I never thought this would happen Bill Thompson finally got the answers he's been waiting more
than four decades for I've moved on I didn't think there was any way this was ever going
to be solved anyone with information about Ralph Howell's movements or any of the cases mentioned
are asked to contact the Ohio Bureau of criminal investigation at 855-224-6446
well that's gonna be it for this video thank you so much for sticking around to the end as always
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