Monday, March 01, 1999

Slain girl's gifts continue 5 years after death

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No suspects, motive in OSU killing

BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Dan and Sue Hummer's daughter, Stephanie, was 18 when she was killed. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP — The first year after their daughter Stephanie's death was the hardest for Dan and Sue Hummer.

        The first Christmas spent without her, a 19th birthday never realized, were days only endured.

        “Every holiday and every birthday was the first one experienced without Stephanie,” says Dan Hummer, as he sits in the living room of the family's Springfield Township home.

        It has been five years since that tragic day, Sunday, March 6, 1994 — Stephanie Hummer, 18 years old, a freshman at Ohio State University, Finneytown High School honors student, active in high school musicals and soccer, was found bludgeoned to death.

        Her body was discovered by railroad tracks in woods 4 miles from the Evans Scholars dorm where she lived on the OSU campus. Her navy blue pullover jacket was missing, as was a blue denim shirt, a pair of black jeans. The clothing never has been recovered. Nor has a weapon.

        Her homicide remains an open case. No one has been charged, and Columbus police have no suspects. Police remain circumspect about even a motive. “All we could do,” says Columbus Police Sgt. Wallace Rushin, of the homicide squad, “is more or less hypothesize, and there are many hypotheses.”

        It was a crime that struck a responsive chord in Columbus, and echoed more profoundly here. From its sheer capriciousness were born truths that resonate — about the loss of promise, about the value of each and every day, about life so special it should never be taken for granted.

        “It's hard to realize the impact,” Mr. Hummer explains. “It spreads to family and to friends and to the community. It's spread to two different communities. It's a big ripple effect.”

        Sue Hummer, Stephanie's mother, says in Stephanie people saw someone they knew.

        “This bothered people so much (because) it was an average, nice teen who was just trying to start out in life,” she says. “It offends so many, I think, because it's so close to home. Maybe they just sent a kid to school. Maybe that's why so many took it personally.”

        Stephanie was, by all accounts, an outgoing, personable young woman, possessed of potential, talented, someone who was still feeling her way around life, who had just begun college and was in no rush to choose a career path.

Security heightened
        Her memory lives in an increased vigilance in Columbus, and is enshrined in recreational areas and awards that bear her name.

        Next week, the Hummers will drive to Columbus for a groundbreaking for the first of seven security towers off campus, designed with phone and blue light to alert police in case of an emergency.

        The first will go up about a block from the Evans Scholars House, on the eastern edge of campus, where Stephanie roomed at OSU.

        Mike Moeddel is national president of the Evans Scholars and a student at OSU who lives in the Evans house. The money is being raised by the Evans Scholars, and is being financed as well with contributions from OSU and private donations. Stephanie was attending OSU on an Evans scholarship, which is awarded to golf caddies — she had caddied at Losantiville Country Club here — and is based on academic achievement.

        “This is the first year where nobody in the house knew Stephanie,” said Mr. Moeddel, 20. “It's kind of an important time for us, making sure that Stephanie's memory stays alive.”

        The off-campus security towers are the latest in a series of safety measures taken by the Evans Scholars and the university and others following the homicide.

        Ruth Gerstner, a spokeswoman for OSU, said on-campus emergency phones were increased from 31 to 85, with plans to increase them to almost 100. Lighting was improved, the student escort service expanded, the off-campus community crime patrol increased and more safety information is handed out during orientation.

        “It certainly raised awareness,” said Ms. Gerstner of Stephanie's homicide. “Some programs that were already under way were beefed up; some other things were moved forward. Not all of them would be directly attributable to Stephanie, but we have done a lot for public safety in the past five years.”

        A children's playground named for Stephanie was built by the Evans Scholars, with money raised from an annual golf tournament, at Catholic Social Services on Patterson Avenue off campus. Her memory reaches to Columbus, but it begins at home.

        Students at Finneytown Middle School are honored with the Stephanie Hummer Big Heart Award, given to recognize character, kindness and investment in the life of the school.

        Springfield Township is getting closer to breaking ground for a park named for Stephanie. Procter & Gamble Co. donated about 15 acres near St. Xavier High School off North Bend Road to the Hummer family. Mike Hinnenkamp, township administrator, said final plans are close. As envisioned, the newest township park would have three soccer fields.

        “We're hoping to construct the park this year,” Mr. Hinnenkamp said.

        Some who went to school with Stephanie have started to marry. Some are starting families. Some are starting careers. Some have chosen graduate school. “I wonder what Stephanie would have chosen,” says Dan Hummer.

        At the wedding of one of Stephanie's friends, Dan Hummer watched as the father walked the bride down the aisle. “Seeing him walk down the aisle with his daughter was awfully hard,” said Mr. Hummer.

        Randy Miller graduated with Stephanie from Finneytown High, and the two were part of a larger group of friends. Mr. Miller is getting married soon. Half the people who hung out together are in the wedding party.

        “There was like seven of us in this little group,” said Mr. Miller, a Springfield Township firefighter. “We're still all good friends today. She would want us to get on with our lives. It's hard to believe it's already been five years.”

        David D'Avignon coached Stephanie in soccer for three years at Finneytown High. He has seen some of the kids he coached get married and raise families. He has seen one of them buried.

        “Life is a gift and it's day to day, and don't take things for granted too much,” says Mr. D'Avignon of the lesson he carries. “It's about valuing life and valuing each day, valuing your kids. That's what I get out of it. Just take time to hug your kid.”

Detective won't forget
        A photograph of Stephanie Hummer sits on the desk of Columbus Police Detective Pat Barr, who has investigated the case from the beginning. The face of an 18-year-old accented by a soft tangle of curls, frozen in time. It's there as a reminder, homicide Sgt. Rushin said. “It still bothers him,” he adds.

        They have no suspects, but the case isn't entirely cold. Using DNA, they were able to eliminate three people as suspects in 1998 and six the year before that. Sgt. Rushin would not say what was used for the DNA analysis.

        Columbus police handle 70 to 90 homicides a year. They close between 68 percent and 70 percent of the cases. In Stephanie's homicide, they have reviewed at least 200 people over the past five years. They still get calls with leads and tips. But they have no single suspect in mind.

        “It's not like that at all,” said Sgt. Rushin. “If it was like that, I'd put several people on it, and we'd work it heavily. But we have nobody in mind. I wish we did.”

Reminders everywhere
        Some days can be trying. One day recently, the past became all too immediate for Sue Hummer. A drive north to the Dayton area reminded her of Stephanie when she saw fliers posted for the missing 9-year-old, Erica Baker of Kettering, and heard the almost incessant news of Wilford Lee Berry Jr. as he awaited execution on death row.

        “Everything really reminded me of Stephanie,” said Mrs. Hummer.

        As does the prospect of their son Tom, a senior at St. Xavier and college-bound, perhaps attending OSU, where he's already been accepted. He is also waiting to hear from other schools.

        “Wherever I send him, it's going to be hard,” said Mrs. Hummer.

        A few months after Stephanie's death, Randy Miller went to the place where Stephanie's body was found. He saw the railroad tracks, the woods, the weathered yellow police tape that was still up. He says today it helped him.

        “It helped out as far as actually seeing where they found her,” he says. “It's kind of hard to explain.”

        He hesitates and continues. “She would have been good in this world,” he says quietly.

       

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