A retired television reporter who says Michael Wehrung admitted to him in 1963 that he slapped Patty Rebholz the night she was killed testified Friday that he never publicly reported the admission.

        Tom Schell, a one-time reporter for WCPO-TV, whose statement was videotaped in 2000 because of his declining health, said he relayed the information to Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Benjamin Schwartz in 1963.

Wehrung

        Within days, the judge made theteen-ager a ward of the court, banned investigators from speaking to him and sent him to a military school in North Carolina.

        Mr. Schell testified that the 15-year-old also told him that “another self” might have killed Patty.

        “I don't know what he meant by that,” Mr. Schell told prosecutors. “I'd never heard anything like that before. I thought maybe he just forgot.”

        Mr. Wehrung is accused of beating his girlfriend to death in 1963. Mr. Schell covered the story for WCPO and spent a great deal of time with Mr. Wehrung. Mr. Wehrung, now 54, is charged as an adult with second-degree murder for the killing.

        Mr. Schell, the prosecution's last witness, said he talked with Michael in the basement of Michael's home about three weeks after Patty was killed. Michael's father, Arthur, had asked Mr. Schell to talk to the boy about what he knew.

        Mr. Schell said he asked him to describe the night Patty died. He said the boy had consistently denied seeing Patty that night, saying only that he went looking for her after learning she was coming to his house.

        But on this occasion, Mr. Schell said the teen told him, he spotted Patty walking down the street, returning from a teen dance. He'd asked her to stop attending dances because he found out she had kissed another boy after one, Mr. Schell said. Michael said he slapped her and she fell down.

        Mr. Schell said that after Michael's admission, he called two police investigators, who came to the house that night to interview the teen. At that point, he said, the boy made an unusual statement.

        “Michael said (to police) he didn't remember doing it,” Mr. Schell recalled. “He said, "It might have been another self.'” Earle Maiman, one of Mr. Wehrung's attorneys, challenged Mr. Schell's testimony.

        He questioned why a reporter such as Mr. Schell did not record his conversations with the young suspect. And he asked Mr. Schell why he never broadcast anything about those conversations.

        Mr. Schell, who is retired and lives in California, said he and his bosses at WCPO agreed not to.

        “We were dealing with a juvenile,” he said. “You just didn't mention juvenile names.”

        Mr. Maiman scoffed at this comment, countering that Mr. Wehrung's name was mentioned nearly every day.

        The defense will begin presenting its case Monday.

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