Benjamin DuerCanton Repository
ALLIANCE − The murder of Kathryn Menendez has remained unsolved for almost 30 years, but authorities have renewed hope they will find her killer.
Forensic experts exhumed the teenager's body at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Alliance on Tuesday to collect DNA evidence.
Menendez, 17, was last seen alive on Aug. 21, 1994, in the Alliance area. Her body later was found in Portage County.
"At this point in time, we had a successful collection of the evidence," Portage County Chief Deputy Ralph Spidalieri said at the Alliance cemetery. "It will be going over to the lab to start to get processed analyzed in hopes that we could have something that comes out of this."
Kathryn Menendez case update in 2015: FBI to probe area of unsolved homicides near Berlin Lake
Kathryn Menendez was found less than a mile from victim of another unsolved murder
Menendez was last seen leaving a friend's house near Auld Street and Forrest Avenue in Alliance in the morning of Aug. 21, 1994. Four days later, an oil well worker found her body on a well access road along Fewtown Road near Berlin Reservoir.
She had been beaten, strangled and stabbed. It was estimated she had been dead for 24 to 48 hours. A few months later, the body of another girl − Sarah Rae Boehm − was found in the same area.
Menendez's mother, Janet Menendez, told The Alliance Review in 2009 that they went to a see movie at Mount Union Theatre without Kathryn, who had other plans. She went to spend the night at a friend's house in Deerfield.
Janet Menendez died Feb. 22, 2024. Leonard Menendez, Kathryn's father, died in 2003. Her brother survives.
"It was the last time I saw her," her mom said in 2009. "I never expected anything to happen to her."
Her daughter was preparing for her senior year at West Branch High School in Beloit in the summer of 1994, after transferring from Alliance High School.
Boehm was a 14-year-old runaway girl from Rochester Township, Pennsylvania, northwest of Pittsburgh. She went missing on July 14, 1994, leaving a two-page note that stated she had been in abusive relationship with an older man.
In the note, she said she was running away to Washington D.C., or New York City.
Hunters found her remains 70 miles from her home on Nov. 4, 1994. They were less than a half-mile from where Menendez was found. Well-hidden, Boehm's body was determined to have been there longer than Menendez had been.
Investigators already had DNA samples from Boehm's remains after tests in 2003. It was not done when Menendez was first found because of technology limitations at that time. Now technology has improved.
Authorities believe the murders are related.
Spidalieri: 'We've not let this case die.'
Federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshal's Office, have been helping the Portage County Sheriff's Office in their investigation into the Menendez and Boehm murders.
All of them were there, along officials from St. Joseph's Catholic Church, on Tuesday for the exhumation. A large white tent covered the gravesite, which was about 100 yards away from the cemetery entrance, which was closed by Alliance Police.
Rev. G. David Weikart, pastor for St. Joseph's, attended the exhumation to make sure it was done respectfully, which it was. He said he found out about the exhumation on Monday while at the cemetery for other reasons.
There were several teams of agents, inside and outside the tent, assisting in the collection process. It took them roughly three hours to exhume the body, collect the evidence there and return the casket to its resting place.
Spidalieri said deputies have never shelved this case or stopped pursuing a killer, and they have a list of possible suspects. Some of them are still alive.
"We've not let this case die," he said. "One of our detectives has been working on this case for close to 30 years. He's just been relentless to try to get this done. We finally had the ability to get clearance to be able to do this."
The next step, he said, is to find if the DNA evidence collected has a match. It was unclear when results would be available.
"We want to have closure in this case," Spidaleri said. "We'd like to bring the suspect to justice."
Anyone with information on the murder of Kathryn Menendez or Sarah Rae Boehm is asked to come forward and provide tips to either the FBI at1-800-CALL-FBI ortips.fbi.gov; or the Portage County Sheriff’s Office Drug and Violent Crime unit at 330-296-8626.
Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP
Staff writer Jeff Saunders of The Record-Courier contributed to this story.
