Gustave Sapharas:Ohio Serial Killer

  


  Gustave Sapharas is a serial killer who, before he was caught, was active in the Akron, Ohio area.


  What was he like? 


  He smiles like all the other teenagers in his high school yearbook. He was in the school band and even a member of the Thespian club. 



  We know, from his convictions through DNA evidence, that he abducted, assaulted, tortured, mutilated and stabbed  Karen Bentz in 1970. 


  We know that, five years later, he abducted, assaulted, tortured, mutilated and stabbed to death Loretta Davis in 1975. 


  We know he abducted, assaulted and stabbed Bonita Parker in 1991. 


  Do you think that these three murders are his only murders? I don’t. I think there are many more. 


   What do we know about him?


   Gustave Sepharas was born in 1944 or 1945 to Frances and George Alexander Sapharas. He is listed as five years old on the 1950 census. 


  He attended East High School in Akron. He got in a bit of trouble for speeding when he was 16 and his license was suspended for 60 days. He also had to go to a court mandated driving course. (So, we know he was driving then and had access to a car. His crimes could have started then.)


  He graduated from East High in June of 1962.


 In November of 1965 he was in the Army at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. An article in the papers provided his address with many others so that the public could write to a soldier and send them home baked cookies and such for the Holidays. 


 I didn’t see anything from November 65 until May 15th 1969. So, I believe he was in Vietnam then. He was with the 82nd Airborne. Did he rape and murder women and girls there in Vietnam too?


  In mid May 1969, he was back in Akron and violently assaulted his date. (By the way, his address 1950 Adelaide puts him at the epicenter of many cold cases.)



   In 1970 he was working at the Parker Career Center. Ads for the career center mention him by name. It seems he was a persuasive speaker. He might have been a good salesman. He had been in the Thespian club in high school after all.


   He married a lady named Marilyn in 1972. They moved to West Virginia. They divorced on October 8th, 1974. The reason listed was adultery. She had filed for divorce against him. Serial killers go out at night and drive quite a lot looking for victims. What victims did he leave behind in West Virginia?


  He was a car salesman at Jim Leach Ford in 1975. Several ads for cars mention him by name. 


  He was also a co-owner of his family’s restaurant in Akron. 


  In the Sunday December 15th, 1974 Akron Beacon Journal he placed this ad:





   At that point we know he had murdered Karen Bentz four years before. He would murder Loretta Davis the following year in 1975. Can you imagine going to Rome with him? 



In January of 1976 he is running a furniture sales warehouse in Akron. 


In June of 1976, Sapharas Restaurant was remodeling the kitchen. Business must have been good. It was the Bicentennial year 1776-1976 and people were somewhat optimistic. Gus placed an ad to sell the old broiler. He was managing the restaurant by that time. It’s interesting that he could always fall back on the family business. His family members were hardworking and friendly by all accounts. It’s sad that he brought such shame on the family name. 


   Sapharas Restaurant was located at the corner of South Arlington and Waterloo Roads. 


  Gus Sapharas raped a woman in 1976. He was tried and convicted. In 1977 was sentenced to prison for 15-60 years for that rape. Ohio paroled him though in November of 1990. 


 Because in 1991 he was out on parole and living in Delaware, Ohio. That’s north of Columbus. He raped and stabbed a 28 year old woman. It doesn’t seem like he faced serious consequences for that at first. He told police that “She was a prostitute”.  (Victim Blaming.) Check out his van:


  The woman that he stabbed in that incident lost a tremendous amount of blood and nearly died. This attack landed Gus back in prison for parole violations.


  Meanwhile Bonita Parker had been raped and stabbed and dumped nearby in 1991. But her case would go cold. 


 In 1999, when his father died, Gus lived in Columbus, Ohio. Gus was freed from prison that year and lived also later lived near the University of Cincinnati. He later moved to Stark County and worked at a Ponderosa Restaurant. He had to carry the label of sex offender then. His coworkers were very wary of him. Some even insisted on having someone else walk them to their cars at night. (Police Departments need to hire more women. We pick up different vibes from the people we meet.)


  In 2018, DNA connected him to the 1991 murder of Bonita Parker. His DNA was under her nails and on her underwear and hosiery. 


  In 2019, DNA connected him to the Akron murders of Karen Bentz in 1970 and Loretta Davis in 1975. 


  He’s in prison now and will never get out. (Unless there’s an all male parole board who hates women.)


  I have no doubt that there are many other victims out there in the Cold Case files of several states. I also think they should look at victims of all races. Some serial killers choose victims of their own race. But, that doesn’t mean that they all do. 


  Those ads for jobs, cars and career opportunities bother me.  Did he ever stop by someone’s house about the job opportunities? 

   









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