Donna Jean Brown:1975, Dayton, Ohio

 

 Donna Jean Brown was born on October 18th, 1954. I wasn’t able to find a photo of her, sadly. I couldn’t find any mention of her family or where she grew up. 




  She lived in Dayton in 1975. Her stepfather, R.W. Nicodemus told reporters that she lived at 749 Academy Place. (That doesn’t seem to be an actual address. Academy Place is a real street but 749 is not a house along that street.) The coroner’s office listed her address as Linda Vista Avenue. (No house number was named.) That is a street near Academy Place. Both are located on Dayton’s northwest side.



  In a separate article her stepfather, R.W. Nicodemus of 4808 Leston in Huber Heights, Ohio, said that he didn’t know if Donna Jean was working anywhere at the time of her death. I wondered how far away Huber Heights was from Linda Vista and Academy Place. Perhaps he and Donna Jean’s mother lived very far away? No, It’s not far away at all. Just about a 10-15 minute drive. Huber Heights is a northern suburb of Dayton. 


  It’s strange that he didn’t know if Donna Jean was working or not. I wonder if her mother or any other family members knew more than he did. 



 Donna Jean was found shot in the face and laying in a creek west of Dayton along the Farmersville-Gratis Road. She was found without any clothing on which suggests a sexual assault.




Her funeral was held at the Hardy Funeral Home in New Lebanon, Ohio. That’s a small town west of Dayton and fairly close to Farmersville. Was that simply a coincidence or did the family have any ties to that area? Perhaps that funeral home was called to the scene to collect Donna’s body and the family simply allowed them to go ahead and take care of the arrangements. That seems the most likely explanation here. 


What happened here? It seems that Donna Jean was abducted, assaulted and then shot in the face. She was then dumped off the bridge over Toms Run Creek there along Farmersville-Gratis Road. 


  With no other family members named in the newspaper I was left to look at R.W. Nicodemus. I found a Roy W. Nicodemus of Pickerington/Reynoldsburg Ohio. That’s east of Columbus. (Which is east of Dayton.) He seems to have passed away. I wasn’t able to find enough information to really get any background on that Roy W. Nicodemus to definitely say that he was the stepfather of Donna Jean Brown. The ages would be about right though. 


 Sometimes families are too upset and devastated when a child is murdered so viciously. Perhaps R.W. Nicodemus was the only one who could speak with reporters at the time. That’s understandable. 


Did you know her? Did you go to school with her? Did you know her family? Without a photo or anyone coming forward with more information it is unlikely her case will be solved. Investigators will need to know who she socialized with in order to possibly connect her case to a suspect. 


I’m hopeful that someone remembers Donna Jean Brown of Dayton, Ohio. She was 20 in 1975. 


Dayton, Ohio was experiencing a lot of violent crime in the 1970’s. Karen Miller of Beavercreek, southeast of Dayton, was abducted, assaulted and dumped in a similar manner in October of 1974. Her killer was Kenneth Ray Barker. He couldn’t have killed Donna Jean Brown because he was already in jail for Karen Miller’s murder. He was actually on trial that summer and was sentenced to death on July 20th, 1975. 


So, who killed Donna Jean Brown? 


There were many serial rapists and murderers in Ohio in the 1970’s. This could be a lot of guys. 


Gus Sapharas of Akron could be a suspect. He committed murders in Columbus and Akron. He was free then. Columbus isn’t far away and Jill Ellen Cull was murdered in a similar way in late 1974.  


If you have any information about Donna Jean Brown please contact investigators at 



I submitted an email tip to the Ohio Attorney General’s office to hopefully had Donna’s case added to the Ohio Unsolved Cold Case Website. 

Rest in Peace Donna. 


Shareable YouTube video here:
https://youtu.be/i7nY_PIgvgo?si=pWoiyB8YPY8utS24
















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