Karen Louise Bentz:1970, Akron, Ohio
Karen Bentz was born on August 1st 1951.
At the age of 15, she had a child that she named Lori. Her parents were pitching in to help raise Lori. The toddler lived with them.
Karen was unable to graduate from Central High School with her 1969 graduating class but she still wore her class ring. In those days if you got pregnant you weren’t usually allowed to come to school. It didn’t matter if you were raped or if the child was the product of consensual sex. The mother of the child always got the shame and blame and the lifelong consequences. No high school graduation. No college. Any career goals were out the window.
Karen Bentz left her parent’s home at 56 Jewett Street to walk four blocks to her apartment. It was Tuesday April 28th, 1970. She had stopped by her parent’s home to pick up a clean work uniform.
Karen worked 4 hours each day at one job at The Red Barn and another 7 hours at a second job at Lawson’s. Her mother made sure she had clean clothes that were pressed and ready.
She left her parents house around 11:15 pm for the short 4 block walk back to her place at 56 N. Arlington Street. She shared the apartment with another young woman who worked as a secretary. She had moved into the apartment only a month before to try to show her parents that she could support herself and live more independently.
How did Karen end up 6 miles away in the Tallmadge area of Northeast Akron?
5 foot 4 Karen Bentz was found face down, stabbed to death and one report said that she was fully clothed. It appeared that she had been dumped out of a car which left tire tracks in the grass. The neighborhood was a rather fancy one with large lawns and mature trees. Her time of death was estimated at midnight, not long after she left her parent’s home. Pieces of the clean clothing that she had been carrying were scattered over several miles.
No identification was found on Karen’s body but her class ring proved to be helpful in identifying her body.
In 2022, DNA would be used to find Karen’s killer.
Gustave Sepharas was identified as the murderer of Karen Bentz in 1970 and Loretta Davis in 1975. He was arrested, tried and convicted. Gustave Sepharas is serving a life sentence in Ohio now.
What other crimes did he commit? There are several unsolved murders in the area that Karen was taken from. In 1970, Mollie Pearson was attacked and died by a gunshot wound. In 1972, Zelma Allen was also shot to death. I have written about them and posted YouTube videos. They were both young African American women. I know researchers say that serial killers tend to kill within their own ethnic group. But, I’m not sure that serial killers always follow that rule.
Linda Pagano was abducted in 1974 from near the neighborhood where Karen Bentz was found. Her cause of death was a gunshot wound. Is it similar to the wounds of Mollie Pearson and Zelma Allen?
There are many cases yet to be solved.
Karen Bentz had experienced a lot of trauma in her childhood. I’m sure she loved her daughter. But, to give birth at 15 had to have been traumatic. She was working so hard to make a living for herself and her daughter. Wages were incredibly low then for service jobs. She might have made as little as 1.25 an hour. Imagine that. She was working 11 hour days at two different part time jobs. (Part time jobs weren’t required to provide health insurance, paid time off, sick leave or anything like that.)
Karen is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It’s a beautiful place of rolling hills, mature trees and flowering shrubs. She was only 18.
Rest in peace, Karen
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