Paula Payne:1977, Dayton, Ohio

  

  Paula Jean Payne was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 2nd, 1957. She was the daughter of Kathryn Elizabeth Thomas Payne and Herbert Payne. She and her sister Ana Abigail Payne grew up in Dayton, Ohio. 

  Paula graduated from Dayton’s Colonel White High School in 1975. She then went on to Earlham College. 

  In 1977, she was 20 years old and was working as an instructor at Dayton’s Natural History Museum. That must have been a dream job for her. As a college student, to land a job where you aren’t waiting tables is a big accomplishment. 

  

   She worked in the “Living Museum” which was a wooded area where tour groups of children would be led to spots in outdoor classrooms for short presentations on various natural history topics. That’s a great idea. That’s an excellent field trip activity or summer camp activity. It’s especially good if the class involved as many of the kids as possible. When kids are active and involved they are learning so much more. Sitting and listening is okay but getting up and doing something is much better. 

  I actually held a similar job at a museum many years ago. I loved the work so much that I went back to school to become a teacher. I wonder if Paula was studying to become a teacher. 

  On August 9th, 1977,  Paula Payne was found in an overgrown brushy area just off the trail that led from the parking lot through the woods and “The Living Museum” and on into the museum entrance that employees used. Paula had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

  She had been walking in to work from the parking lot but someone intercepted her on this walk. Who was it? Were there other similar attacks nearby? Actually, there were. 

   Another victim was taken to that same spot and sexually assaulted on the 10th. She named her attacker. He lived in Trotwood. He was questioned and his house was searched. He was not named, however, in the 1977 article in the newspapers. Is his name in the police files?  

  The odds that two different perpetrators would take two different victims to the same spot on the museum’s grounds seems astronomical to me. Who was that August 10th attacker? Is he still alive? Can DNA technology connect him to Paula Payne’s murder? 

  Paula Payne is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Dayton Ohio. Her parents have both passed away and are buried close by. Kathryn Payne died only 3 years after Paula. Herbert lived until 1998.

 This is one of those cases that is especially frustrating. There are cases that seem unsolvable and impossible. This is not one of those cases. It seems like a very obvious suspect got away with murder.

  Who was that suspect?  Well, I can tell you who it wasn’t. It’s not Gus Sapharas of Akron. He was in jail for a vicious 1976 rape. He would be released in 1991 and immediately pick up where he left off. His DNA was found on Bonita Parker who was murdered in the summer of 1991 and left east of Columbus.  A jury would later acquit him of her murder in 2018. In 2025, Sapharas would be convicted of two cold case murders from Akron. Karen Bentz (1970) and Loretta Davis (1975). I suspect him of dozens of other murders in Akron, Dayton and Columbus going back to 1962. He is serving a life sentence currently. But he wasn’t free in 1977. 

   It could be Eugene William Gall, Jr.   He was a serial rapist and murderer who is very capable of this kind of brazen daytime attack. In October of 1977 he would abduct Beth Ann Mote of Dayton, as she walked to school. She would later be found tied to a tree having been sexually assaulted and stabbed. In April 1978, he would abduct Lisa Jansen, of Cincinnati, as she walked to school. He took Lisa across the Ohio river into Kentucky where he sexually assaulted and shot her to death. Just after killing Lisa Jansen, Eugene William Gall, Jr. walked into a grocery store and robbed everyone in there at gunpoint. It’s important to remember that it wasn’t just one clerk in the store. He held a gun to each and every person in the store and took personal items and cash from them. As he fled the store a police officer tried to apprehend him and a shootout occurred. KSP Officer Gary Carey was wounded in the leg and the chest. Gall also wounded a bystander. He is also currently serving a life sentence in Ohio for those two murders and one attempted murder of Officer Carey. I suspect him of many, many more going back to the mid 1960’s. 

  Beth Ann Mote was abducted from mere blocks away from the museum. Gall was known to volunteer to drive elderly patients to their doctor's appointments. It gave him a "Good Samaritan" type excuse to be out and about for the day. He would then use the downtime to seek out victims. If someone had an early morning appointment at the nearby VA hospital in Dayton then this could be the work of Eugene William Gall, Jr.  

  It could be Ralph Richard Howell. He strangled his victims. He delivered bulk shipments of newspapers to stores and newsstands. He mainly worked in the overnight hours. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t commit a crime in the daylight. This seems unusual for him, however. Most of his victims were taken farther away from the spots he abducted them from. He was free until he died in a car accident in 1985. 

  It could be Larry Ralston. He tended to meet his victims at parties and gatherings of teens and young adults. He would offer them rides home. He was free until mid November 1977 when he was apprehended after fleeing to Chicago. 

  Who was that man from Trotwood? Was he convicted of the rape on August 10th? Did he ever serve time for any other crimes? 

  

  Paula Payne had so much ahead of her. She had two more years of college and then a career to look forward to. She had hopes and dreams. She should still be here.

  Rest in peace, Paula. 

If you have information about the unsolved murder of Paula Payne please use this link to submit a tip:https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Cold-Case/Homicides/Payne