Saturday, January 22, 2000
Reporter revisits '63 murder case
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Patty Rebholz
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As he walked in the snow along Illona Drive Friday morning, Tom Schell began to recall how it all looked 37 years ago. The quiet streets and well-kept yards. The neighbors huddled together on porches. The body of a young girl, a cheerleader, sprawled beside an old wire fence.
“I still remember things pretty clearly,” Mr. Schell said. “This is bringing it all back.”
In the next few days, Hamilton County prosecutors will find out if Mr. Schell's return to the street jogged his memory enough to help them solve one of the county's most puzzling homicides.
Mr. Schell's visit to Greenhills is the latest attempt by prosecutors to revive the investigation into the beating death of 15-year-old Patricia Ann Rebholz.
Prosecutor Mike Allen said Mr. Schell, a former reporter for WCPO-TV (Channel 9), covered the case in 1963 and may have information that could help investigators.
He would not discuss that information, other than to say it includes “possible statements made by a suspect.”
Mr. Schell said he came to Greenhills from his California home because prosecutors wanted him to visit the crime scene and review old photographs, video clips and documents.
He said he expected to give prosecutors a sworn statement about the case Friday or today. But he would not comment on what he would tell them.
“I'll do what needs to be done,” he said. “I think my memory banks are in shape.”
Mr. Schell said his work on the homicide story in 1963 brought him into close contact with the Rebholz family and the family of her boyfriend, Michael Wehrung.
Mr. Allen has said Mr. Wehrung, who was then 15, is a suspect in the case.
In the weeks after Patty's death, police and prosecutors questioned Mr. Wehrung several times.
A juvenile court judge eventually stepped in and declared Mr. Wehrung a ward of the state, effectively barring police from further questioning.
Mr. Wehrung left Greenhills a few months later for two years at a North Carolina military school. He was never charged or questioned again by police.
Mr. Wehrung's attorneys, who have repeatedly declined comment, could not be reached Friday.
Prosecutors say Patty was bludgeoned to death with a piece of fence post on her way to Mr. Wehrung's house. She attended a teen dance earlier that night and had called his house shortly after she left.
Her body was found at dawn on Aug. 9, 1963, in a lot a half-block from Mr. Wehrung's house.
Mr. Schell said he got to know Michael Wehrung well in the days after Patty's death. He said he spent many hours with the teen-ager, talking with him, playing pingpong and shooting baskets.
He said he also spoke at length with Patty's friends, her family and others close to the case.
“He had incredible access,” Mr. Allen said. “He is someone who could be a very valuable witness for us.”
Mr. Schell said his close relationship with the two families — Mr. Wehrung's and Patty's — was an unusual one for a journalist. “I don't think I'd ever want to get in that position again as a reporter,” he said. “It was emotionally draining.”
Previous reports on the killing and investigation
Tracking a killer - 36 years later Nov. 11, 1999
Closing in on Patty's killer Jan. 6, 2000
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