Teen girl found raped, strangled on riverbank. CASE CRACKED BY CAR CRASH YEARS LATER

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime, News

3.9 • 7.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cheryl Thompson left her Ohio home to meet her boyfriend at a bar in Oakley. She never made it.

A state natural resources officer found Thompson's body along the bank of the Little Miami River. The 19-year-old had been raped and died of asphyxia caused by strangulation.

The search for Thompson's killer went on for more than 40 years and now thanks to
DNA, a link was found to a man that may have been responsible for three other murders in Ohio.

Joining Nancy Grace today:

Dale Carson - High Profile Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer (Miami-Dade County), Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself
Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills, CA); New Netflix show: 'Bling Empire' (Beverly Hills)
Karen L. Smith - Forensic Expert, Lecturer at the University of Florida, Host of Shattered Souls Podcast, @KarensForensic
Dr. Michelle DuPre - Former Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Forensic Consultant
Shera LaPoint - Genetic Genealogist, Author: "The Gene Hunter;" Founder: Twitter: @LapointShera
Courtney King - Anchor/Reporter FOX19 Now Cincinnati; Twitter: @FOX19CourtKing

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Joseph Scott Morgan. I was the youngest medical legal death investigator in the country.
0:05.0	The world that I inhabited gave me insight into things that most of the general public can't even
0:10.3	begin to imagine, always having to view the abnormal in the context of the normal. To make them make
0:16.7	sense, if you will, when all is said and done, I was the voice of the dead. Listen to body bags with
0:22.9	Joseph Scott Morgan, only I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:35.4	Question. What does a seemingly unrelated car crash have to do with catching a serial killer?
0:46.4	I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and
0:51.3	Series XM 111. Let's just start this at the beginning. Listen, like the little Miami River,
0:58.3	the headline still ripple through the community of Loveland. Loveland's a small community. This is our
1:03.4	only unsolved homicide. This is where the body of 19 year old UC student Cheryl Thompson was found
1:11.5	April 8th. She had been reported missing a few weeks earlier March 25th. Cheryl goes out to a club
1:18.6	down in the Cincinnati area and it never shows up the next morning. Of course, in a college town,
1:26.0	when somebody doesn't show up to class or to their job, it may not be altogether unexpected.
1:33.9	You were just hearing our friends at WLWT. What happened to this gorgeous young co-ed?
1:41.3	And again, how does a seemingly unrelated car crash connect to catching a serial killer?
1:49.1	Well, it all starts when she doesn't show up the next day. What do we know about the victim?
1:56.9	Well, first of all, take a listen to our friends at WCPO. It was after Cheryl didn't return from
2:02.1	a night out at an Oakley disco that her family reported her missing. Laura says they had planned
2:07.4	to go together, but she changed her mind. And I begged her on the phone, you know, not to go because I
2:12.2	had a bad feeling. How often does that happen in cases? A bad feeling, almost a premonition? Believe it
2:21.2	or not, it happens more often than you'd think. Again, I see Grace, this is Crime Story. Thanks for
2:26.6	being with us with me and all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. But first,
	...

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