Kathryn Menendez:1994, Berlin Reservoir, Ohio

    

   Kathryn Menendez was born on May 24th, 1977. Her mother was Janet (Pollack) Menendez.

   Kathryn attended Alliance High School in Alliance, Ohio. Alliance is a small town east of Akron. She had recently transferred to West Branch High School. 

  Kathryn was seen alive by people that knew her on Saturday August 20th, 1994. She was 17 and it was Summer. Kathryn was out and about like anyone would want to be. Her mother could not locate her on Sunday August 21st, 1994 and then reported her missing. 

   On Thursday, the 25th of August, 1994, Kathryn was found by a gas and oil company worker. He discovered Kathryn’s body near a gas well off Fewtown Road. I looked on Google Earth but could not locate this well. It may be that it has been dismantled and removed since 1994. 

  Kathryn Menendez had not just been abducted and killed. She had been tortured. She had been beaten with fists. She had been stabbed with a screwdriver and a knife. The man who did this was, in my opinion, pure evil. 

  As Kathryn had been reported missing, law enforcement brought her mother, Janet to the scene of the crime. Crime scene tape had been used to cordon off the area. Reporters were also there and were kept well back. Investigators escorted Janet Menendez down the road to attempt to identify the remains. Reporters waited quietly while Janet and law enforcement walked back to the scene. Not long after Janet and the others were out of sight, reporters heard Janet Menendez’ wails of grief. 

  No Mother should have to endure that. No daughter should have to go through this torture and killing. 

  This perpetrator is someone who was very angry. Perhaps he knew her but it is also likely that he did not know her at all. He may have been taking his anger for someone else (or just for girls and women in general) out on Kathryn. 

  Who did this? 

  What no one at the scene of this crime knew that day was that another girl’s body lay nearby. The other girl had been killed on the 15th of July, 1994. No one would find her for months. 

  

  Sarah Rae Boehm was born on the 18th of February in 1980 in Rochester in Beaver County, Ohio. (I recently wrote about the case of Carla Chunchick Mason who was also from the little town of Rochester. Their cases are not related. Coincidences like this just seem somehow more sad and poignant.)

   Sarah’s parents were Phyllis and Jack Boehm. 

   Sarah was born during the 1980 Winter Olympics.  I wonder if her Mom and Dad watched any of the events on tv before and after her birth. With a new infant in the house I can imagine they might have had that on the television. That was the year of the “Miracle on Ice” when the United States men’s hockey team defeated the Soviet team. Speed Skater, Eric Heiden, won five gold medals that year too. 

  Sarah attended Rochester Junior High School in Rochester, Pennsylvania. In one of her Junior high photos she is pictured in the band. She played the flute.

   In the Summer of 1994 she would have been 14. She was probably looking forward to high school and all the memories she would make there with her friends. Ace of Base was big on the music charts with “The Sign”. Lisa Loeb was making wearing glasses cooler than ever. Boyz II Men were also huge that year. 

   Sarah last spoke to her mother on July 14th, 1994. She called her Mom at work around 10:30 p.m. to say she was going to spend the night with a neighborhood friend. The next day when Sarah did not return home her Mom reported her missing. 

   Sarah was found on November 4th, 1994 several hours drive away in the woods of a spot in Ohio called the Berlin Reservoir.  As it often happens in the Midwest, hunters stumbled upon her remains there. 

  Sarah was found about 300 yards away from the spot where two other murder victims had been found in 1993. 

  Earlier in 1994, another girl had also been found nearby. Kathryn Menendez was a local Ohio girl. 

   Sarah was thought to be a runaway at first. Posters were made and tips trickled in. Several people over the years thought they had spotted her alive. Each of these tips turned out to be similar looking girls and young women. 

   Sarah Boehm was not identified right away. Her remains were in an advanced state of decomposition when found. DNA testing was attempted twice. In 2003, however, a positive identification was finally made. Sarah’s relatives were notified. 

  Because her remains were in a near skeletal state, the exact cause of death was difficult to determine at first. 

   Because Sarah was taken across state lines, the FBI was now involved. 

   Is Sarah’s murder related to the 1994 murder of Kathryn Menendez? The FBI thinks so. 

   Who did this? Was Sarah taken by someone she knew in Rochester? Was she abducted by a stranger? 

   Was Kathryn abducted from nearby Alliance and killed by someone she knew or by a stranger? 

   Sarah Rae Boehm, once identified, was finally buried in 2003 in Sylvania Hills Memorial Park in her hometown of Rochester, PA. 

  Kathryn Menendez m is buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Alliance, Ohio. 

   Rest in Peace, Kathryn and Sarah

   The FBI believes that these two murders are linked. They have produced and distributed a poster with information about the two murders. I’ll also add the link here: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/sarah-rae-boehm