Judy Stevenson:1975, Bellefontaine, Ohio

   

  Judy Stevenson was born in 1956. She was a graduate of Benjamin Logan High School. She lived with her parents and younger brother in Zanesfield, Ohio in Logan County. 

   On March 6th 1975, Judy was last seen by her Mother mid-morning at their home near Zanesfield. A friend saw her at noon and Judy said she was going to wash her car in Bellefontaine. 

   Judy was supposed to babysit at 3 p.m. that day. Her Mom had reminded Judy that she needed someone to watch Judy’s  three year old brother, Richard. When Judy failed to show up she took Richard to her husband’s workplace. She thought she saw Judy’s car and someone waving happily at her while driving to drop Richard off. I wonder if it only appeared as happy waving and not frantic waving. Her mother wondered that later too. She wondered if someone was in the car and hidden and forcing Judy to drive. 

   No one saw Judy Stevenson alive after noon on March 6th, 1975. Her car was found on March 8th, 1975 in the parking lot of the Logan County Jail. The keys were on the floor mat. The car was covered in snow. It did not appear to have been washed by Judy before it was parked there. That may have been hard to tell. She may have washed it and it was dirty again from driving. I am imagining that the car wash was the kind I remember where you park in a concrete stall and spray wash your own car. That’s an opportunity for a man to see a young woman and approach undetected while it’s noisy. He could have forced her into her car and forced her to drive away. 

  Witnesses recalled seeing a man illegally park her car near the jail. The car did not have any indications that a crime was committed inside. I assume investigators meant that there was no sign of blood, or a struggle or other clues. Did they dust for fingerprints? 

   A few days after her car was found; her coat and one of her shoes was found on Ludlow Road. The coat was in good shape for having possibly been on the heavily traveled road for 24 hours. 

   

   On April 22, 1975, 47 days after her disappearance; Judy was found in a wooded area by mushroom hunters. Phyllis Prall, 44, and her son were hunting mushrooms in the woods near their home on Monroe Township Road 163. That’s southeast of Bellefontaine in a rural area. 

  Judy had been raped and strangled with her shoelace. She was only clothed in her bra and shirt. 

  It seems like Judy was abducted in or near Bellefontaine. Someone raped and strangled her and dumped her in that wooded area on Township Road 163. They then drove her car back to the Logan County Jail. 

  A sketch of the suspect was released in 1975. 

  In May 1975, Judy’s wallet was found. It contained her ID but little else. 

   That detail of strangling with a shoelace sticks out to me. Ann Harmeier was abducted, raped and strangled with a shoelace near Martinsville, Indiana in September of 1977. She was taken off the side of the road when her car broke down in the morning on her drive back to Indiana University. Her murder is still unsolved. 

   Tara Renee Meredith was abducted, raped and strangled with a shoelace near Greenfield, Indiana in September 1979. She had left the house just after school on foot so she was likely abducted also during daylight hours. Her murderer was caught almost immediately. John T. Gibson Jr. was caught that same night. He was tried and convicted and served decades for the crime in Indiana. He was then released after serving his sentence. 

   I have been trying to locate a photo of John T. Gibson Jr. but haven’t found one yet. 

   Who else could this be? 

   It is not Eugene William Gall.  He’s still in custody for a series of abductions, rapes and robberies in 1970. He was released on April 12th 1977. He abducted, raped and murdered Beth Ann Mote in October of 1977 and also Lisa Jansen in April of 1978. He is currently still in prison in Ohio for those crimes. 

   Larry Ralston is loose in Ohio but this is pretty far north in comparison to the crimes he’s convicted of. He abducted raped and strangled women. He was acquainted with the girls and young women that he murdered. He met them at parties usually. He’s still a potential suspect to be looked at here. Larry Ralston was free. Ralston was not in custody until November 15th, 1977. He is serving life in prison in Ohio as well. 

  If there is anything to test…I would look at John T. Gibson Jr. of Indiana and Larry Ralston.

   Judy Ann Stevenson is buried in her hometown of Zanesfield, Ohio. 

    If you have a tip about Judy Ann Stevenson’s murder please contact the Logan County Sheriff’s Office at (937)592-5731 or use the link below: 

https://www.logancountyohio.gov/sheriff.html