Friday, March 17, 2000
Probe of 1963 killing almost over
High-school girl beaten to death
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The 37-year investigation into the death of Patricia Ann Rebholz is nearing an end.
Four months after they reopened the case, Hamilton County prosecutors say they are nearly finished gathering evidence and interviewing potential witnesses.
Many of those witnesses have not spoken to authorities since the 15-year-old cheerleader was found beaten to death in 1963.
“It looks like the case is coming to a conclusion,” Prosecutor Mike Allen said Thursday. “We've interviewed just about all the witnesses we need to interview.”
Mr. Allen said investigators from his office also have sent letters to as many of Patty's classmates as they could find. So far, he said, they have received about 40 responses.
Mr. Allen said some of those responses led to new information that could help investigators solve the case, which is one of the oldest unsolved homicides in Hamilton County.
The case began in the early hours of Aug. 9, 1963, when a police officer found Patty's body in a vacant lot along Jennings Road in Greenhills.
She had been ambushed and severely beaten as she walked home after a dance. A bloody piece of fence post was found near her body.
Patty's then-boyfriend, Michael Wehrung, was questioned several times by police in 1963, but was never charged with a crime.
Mr. Allen said Mr. Wehrung, who still lives in the Cincinnati area, is a suspect. Mr. Wehrung's attorneys declined to comment Thursday.
Mr. Allen would not discuss how many suspects may be under investigation, but he said a recent change in Ohio law could help prosecutors bring charges.
The law allows prosecutors to charge someone in adult court even if the suspect was a juvenile at the time of the offense.
Mr. Allen said the law means prosecutors could take their case directly to a grand jury no matter how old the defendant was when the crime occurred. He would not say, however, if the investigation has narrowed its focus to one suspect.
“I'm not ruling anybody out,” he said.
Mr. Allen said he still is awaiting the results of lab tests on the blood-soaked clothing Patty was wearing the night of her death. He said clothing that Mr. Wehrung wore that night also has been sent to the lab.
Prosecutors hope the tests will turn up DNA evidence that could lead them to the killer.
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