Patricia Rebholz told a high-school friend 38 years ago that she wanted to meet with her boyfriend one last time so she could break up with him.

        Prosecutors say the meeting ended with Patricia's murder.

        Patricia's friend, Diane Blackburn, talked about the planned breakup in court Friday while recalling the last conversation she had with her 15-year-old friend in 1963.

Wehrung

Rebholz

        The conversation is important because prosecutors believe it finally explains why Patricia's boyfriend, Michael Wehrung, could have become angry enough to kill his girlfriend on the night of Aug. 8, 1963.

        Instead of a loving boyfriend, prosecutors say, Mr. Wehrung may have been a jealous teen lashing out at his girlfriend.

        “Why would a 15-year-old boy lose his temper?” asked assistant prosecutor Mark Piepmeier. “It's because of what happens with teen-agers every day. She broke up with him.”

        Mr. Wehrung, now 53, was a suspect in Patricia's beating death in 1963 but was not charged with the crime until prosecutors reopened the case last year. In court Friday, prosecutors said the new evidence about a possible motive shows why it took so long to crack the case.

        Mr. Wehrung has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have argued for months that prosecutors should not be allowed to use old police reports and witness statements as evidence.

        Defense attorneys said the old evidence is unfair to Mr. Wehrung because many of the investigators and witnesses are now dead, making it impossible to challenge them about their old statements.

        “Michael Wehrung's ability to defend himself has been severely prejudiced by the delay in prosecuting this case,” said Jim Perry, one of Mr. Wehrung's lawyers.

        The defense lawyers said the same is true of Ms. Blackburn's testimony Friday about a possible motive. They said it's not Mr. Wehrung's fault that police did not properly interview her until 38 years after Patricia's death.

        Prosecutors say the evidence is crucial and cannot be ignored. They say Ms. Blackburn was a close friend who spoke to Patricia on the phone just hours before she died.

        Ms. Blackburn said another boy had asked Patricia on a date, but Patricia said she didn't want to go out with anyone new until she broke up with Mr. Wehrung.

        Patricia was going to deliver the bad news to Mr. Wehrung sometime after she went to a teen dance on Aug. 8, Ms. Blackburn said.

        “She said the next time she saw Mike, she was going to break up with him,” Ms. Blackburn testified. “She didn't want to break up over the phone. She wanted to do it in person.”

        Defense attorneys urged Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker to throw out most of the evidence against Mr. Wehrung. They also asked the judge to dismiss the murder charges against their client.

        The judge said he would consider their arguments and decide within the next three weeks whether the case will go forward.

        A trial date has not been set because Mr. Wehrung's lawyers are appealing a ruling that kept the case in adult court instead of juvenile court.

        They say Mr. Wehrung should be charged as a juvenile — despite his age — because he was only 15 at the time of Patricia's death.

        The issue is important because Mr. Wehrung could face up to life in prison if he is convicted in adult court. He would face little or no punishment in juvenile court.

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