Cheryl Ann Felger:1974, Decatur, Indiana

 

  Cheryl Ann Felger, 19,  was from Van Wert, Ohio. She was born on April 1st, 1955. She graduated from Van Wert High School. She was a student at Wright State University. 

  She was abducted while riding her bicycle in the Spring of 1974. It should have been a safe and enjoyable activity in the small rural town of Van Wert, Ohio. 

    Cheryl was found Saturday April 13th, 1974 near Decatur Indiana. She had been stabbed between 50 and 60 times in the head and chest.

   The spot where she was found is just over the border between Ohio and Indiana near the town of Decatur. Cheryl was found in a field. (Debra Lynn Dusing was found stabbed to death at the red dot on Hartzell Rd. Lori Ann Brickley was found stabbed to death in Markle, IN. on the lower left side of this map.) 

   Police in Decatur zeroed in on two suspects. Timothy Allen Heckert and Earnest Richard Tope were tried and convicted.  Prosecutors said they went to Van Wert, Ohio and abducted Cheryl and brought her back to their hometown and attacked and killed her. Heckert said he was innocent and was railroaded.  Anything is possible in the world of violent crime in the 1970’s. But, would a killer bring a victim from another state and back to their own hometown area? Maybe. They aren’t geniuses. Herb Baumeister brought many victims back to his own home. John Wayne Gacy did as well.  

   Maybe this killer did too. But, would it be more likely that a killer would abduct a victim from near where they lived and then discard that victim further away from their home in order to distance themselves from the crime? That seems more likely. But, I could be wrong. 

  I first thought of Eugene William Gall in this case.  This really seemed to have all the hallmarks of his criminal history. He was running rampant all over Ohio at this time.  He was known as the “Friday Night Rapist”.  He was only caught in 1978 when he kidnapped, raped and murdered Lisa Jansen from Ohio. He took her to Kentucky where he was apprehended by local police shortly after her murder. Not long before that he had murdered Beth Ann Mote.  He abducted her from Dayton.  He also abducted a group of children at a bus stop.  He herded them into a house.  He tied the lady of the house up and each of the children.  He raped all the females in the house; stole money from the lady’s handbag and fled.  He was a brazen criminal.  He had been incarcerated for rape before too. I looked up the dates and Cheryl Felger can’t be one of his victims because he was not free until 1977.  He was incarcerated from December 15th 1970 to April 12th1977. He immediately began abducting, raping and killing as soon as he was freed. Gall is currently serving a life sentence in Ohio. 

   So, if it’s not Gall, who else was grabbing women off the street and viciously murdering them? Let’s look at the conviction that happened in Cheryl Felger’s brutal murder.  Earnest R. Tope and Timothy A. Heckert were arrested and convicted. 

  Could they also be responsible for the murders of Debra Dusing in October of 1973 and the March 1974 murder of Lori Ann Brickley? (Both have been covered in this blog.) Both victims were found not far from Decatur.  Both Debra and Lori were stabbed to death like Cheryl Felger. 

  Who was Earnest R. Tope?  He was the older of the two perpetrators at 21 at the time of the murder of Cheryl Ann Felger. He was born in Decatur, Indiana in June of 1953. 

  Who was Timothy Allen Heckert? He was born in Convoy, Ohio in 1954.  Convoy is a small community just outside VanWert, Ohio. I wonder if he still had relatives there and visited the VanWert area often. 

  Earnest Tope died of lung cancer in prison in 2011. His DNA should be in CODIS for investigators to check in the Dusing and Brickley cases. 

  Timothy A. Heckert did not remain in prison for life after his conviction for murdering Cheryl Ann Felger. He was out by 1992 when he committed another crime…receiving stolen property. He served his sentence and was released in 2001. But, his DNA should be in CODIS.

   Both Heckert and Tope have passed away.  Could their DNA tell us anything more and possibly solve two cold cases? 

  Cheryl deserved a long and happy life. She deserves to still be here with us. Rest in Peace Cheryl.