Melissa D. Hinke : Cleveland 1975

   

   On Thursday, November 20th 1975, She went to the Lawson Milk Company shop for milk. Melissa Hinke was 8 years old. She had taken two Pepsi bottles with her to turn in for the deposit. She planned to buy a little candy with the deposit bottle refund. 

   Melissa lived at 2245 West 67th Street in Cleveland,Ohio.  She was born on the 7th of January in 1967. Her route to the store was only 3 blocks. 

   Searches were launched. People in the neighborhood were questioned and tips were coming in. But the wait was agonizing. 

   Two days later three teen boys were deer hunting and found her body about 60 feet off a trail at Rocky River Reservation, a large park that is part of the Cleveland Metroparks system.  It’s a few miles west of where Melissa was taken. 

   Melissa had been raped, strangled and stabbed multiple times.  A piece of fabric was still tightly wrapped around her neck. 

   Who could have done this? 

   Eugene William Gall was still incarcerated in 1975. He went to jail in 1970 for multiple rapes, assault, and armed robbery. Despite his long criminal history; he appealed and was granted parole in April of 1977. Rape was not considered a violent or serious crime by the men who made the laws then. He would then embark upon a spree of rapes, murders and armed robbery. Those were the same crimes that put him in jail in 1970. This time he added murder to the list.  But this is 1976; and Gall is still in jail. 

   Larry Ralston was free in 1975. He would be arrested on November 15th 1977 after fleeing from Ohio to a Chicago suburb. Investigators had closed in on him after a years long spree of rapes and murders. But, Ralston was not involved in this murder. 

  Investigators would find that John A. Johnson kidnapped, raped and murdered Melissa Hinke after a tip from a sharp eyed citizen. 

John A. Johnson

   A shopkeeper, Charles Bosak, saw a man trying to lure a girl into his car on November 20th, 1975.  The girl seemed afraid and hesitant to talk to the man in the car. Bosak approached and the man sped away. But Charles Bosak was able to get the license plate number and make/model of the car.  He reported this tip to the police.  

  The car belonged to John A. Johnson.  A search would turn up his blood stained underwear in the garbage can. His blood type was A.  The blood on his underwear was type O.  Melissa D. Hinke had type O. 

  John A. Johnson was arrested on Friday November 21st, 1976, even before Melissa’s body had been found. The tip about him trying to lure a child into his car so near Melissa’s home was incredibly compelling. 

  In addition to his blood stained underwear, police found images of children being sexually abused. 

  Johnson was tried and found guilty and sentenced to death. At his sentencing he told his sobbing wife that he would be out in 1-3 years. Luckily he was wrong.  He appealed his conviction and lost.  He attempted to get paroled but was unsuccessful. Even as recently as 2014, his appeals have not been successful.

   Ironically, his brother, Ronnie Charles Johnson, was already in jail for murdering a woman, Waneda Mets, during a break in and robbery. Ronnie Charles Johnson was 20 when he was sentenced to life in prison. I wonder if they were incarcerated at the same facility at any time. 

   Melissa was only 8 years old. She deserved a peaceful and happy childhood and a long life.  What might Melissa have grown up to be?  We will never know.  

Rest in peace Melissa Desiree Hinke.