The last person Patty Rebholz talked to before she was killed on Aug. 8, 1963, was an 11-year-old boy playing hide-and-seek with friends along Ingram Road in Greenhills.

        On Monday, that boy, now 50, told jurors in the murder trial of Patty's high-school boyfriend that he saw a teen-age boy he did not recognize following the popular cheerleader.

        “He wore taps on his shoes,” said defense witness Barry Hatfield, who now lives in Virginia. “He was average height with slicked-back hair and Buddy Holly-type black rimmed glasses. The ear pieces were chrome. His pants were dark.”

        Mr. Hatfield's statements are key to Michael Wehrung's defense. Other witnesses have testified that Mr. Wehrung was wearing light-colored jeans the night Patty was killed.

        Mr. Wehrung, 54, now a roofing executive, is charged as an adult with second-degree murder in Patty's brutal beating death when both were 15.

        Mr. Hatfield said he was “it” and had just begun counting to 100 when Patty walked by and said hello. He said he watched her continue down the street and then he noticed the person following her.

        “He didn't speak to me,” Mr. Hatfield said of the stranger. “He didn't look at me. He appeared focused on her. ... It wasn't Michael Wehrung. ... I don't know who it was.”

        Patty was on her way to Mr. Wehrung's house about 9:30 p.m. when she was choked and brutally beaten with a fence post. Her body was found the next morning in a field across from Mr. Wehrung's childhood home.

        Prosecutors say Mr. Wehrung was upset because Patty planned to end their relationship. Defense attorneys have maintained their client's innocence.

        Mr. Hatfield's testimony corroborates earlier statements by Craig Smith, a prosecution witness who said Patty's killer wore dark clothes.

        Mr. Smith, who now lives in Colorado, was 15 in 1963. He was walking home from work and passed the spot where Patty's body was found. He told authorities that he saw two people in the dark lot. One person was lying on the ground. The other was kneeling over the first person.

        Also on Monday, Mr. Wehrung's sister Cheryl St. Clair testified that investigators at the time repeatedly interviewed her and her brother about Patty's death.

        She said Greenhills Police Officer Jack Leach, who is now deceased, repeatedly told her he thought her brother killed Patty.

        “He told me over and over again that Mike had killed Patty and that he'd buried the memory and I had to help him,” she said, adding that because of this she was briefly afraid of her own brother.

        However, her fear lasted only for a few days: “I knew Mike did not do this. He would never do anything like this.”

        The defense could complete its case today and the jury could begin deliberations as soon as Wednesday.

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