Never forget their names

PERKINS TWP. — It would be an understatement to say that Erie County Sheriff's Office detectives do not forget homicide victims. Nearly 40 names are written on a small dry-erase board hanging on the wall above Detective Daniel Orzech's desk. Each name on the board represents a victim whose death was classified as a homicide in Erie County. The names are from cases investigated by the sheriff's office. Most of the names are written in black, denoting that the case is closed. Usually, that means a perpetrator went to prison. One name is written in blue: Sandusky police Officer Andy Dunn. He was killed in the line of duty on March 19, 2011 in Sandusky. Nine names are written in red. Those victims' cases are still considered open. Origin The board was first installed in the detectives bureau in the 1990s, according to Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth. Inspiration for the board came from the NBC crime procedural drama "Homicide: Life on the Street." The squad room of the Baltimore-set show featured a dry-erase board that was used to track cases. "The board is a good way to keep track," Sigsworth said. "It reminds all of us of the unsolved cases." He said constantly reminding detectives of the names helps when a periodic phone call comes in in regard to one of the cases. "It's a good reminder for us which cases are still open," Detective Alexis Harvey said. "Homicide case files are retained forever. As we get new detectives who did not handle those cases, they will have the ability to see which cases are still open." A supreme responsibility Sigsworth spoke on the importance of closing homicide cases. "The greatest responsibility we have to the public is to investigate homicides," he said. "The board represents the names of people whose lives were taken by criminals. Friends and families of the victims are still here and they are suffering." He said detectives cannot always answer all the questions. "We can't bring the victims back but we do our best to provide some amount of closure to those who mourn," he said. Hitting close to home When asked which case they wanted to close the most, detectives unanimously mentioned Baby Jane Doe. The newborn girl's life began and ended at Huron River Valley Campground. On June 2, 1982, the Wednesday after Memorial Day weekend, a sanitation company employee was cleaning out portable toilets when his truck's hose clogged. He investigated and saw what he thought was a doll. When he got a better look at the obstruction, he ran to the campground office and called the Erie County Sheriff's Office. An autopsy established that the girl had been born alive and drowned. The report estimated that the baby died in between five and 10 minutes. The death was classified as a homicide. "We've had her exhumed twice in efforts to get a sufficient DNA sample for comparison," Det. Dennis Papineau said. In 2019, the remains were exhumed for the purpose of obtaining a DNA sample. Technicians examined several parts of the body, including the teeth, but were unable to produce a genetic profile. Sigsworth asserted that the worst cases are any that involve children. "You don't realize how much those cases can affect you until you have children of your own," Sigsworth said. "It's a different ballgame once you have kids," Orzech said. Triple homicide Three of the victims share the same surname: Cassidy. William, 41, his wife, Ann, 37, and their daughter, Patty, 12, were all brutally attacked in their rural Milan home in 1968, according to a Register news article from that year. The family's son, Michael, 17, returned home around 4 a.m. on April 1 to find the gruesome scene. William was dead from shotgun wounds and Ann, who was also shot, was dying. Patty had been bludgeoned and was rushed to an Elyria hospital where she died three days later. Investigators cleared Michael after he took a nearly hour-long lie-detector test. Now, 55 years later, the case is still open. Oldest case The oldest case on the board is that of Jannie Bell Brown. People knew her as Jane or Janie, according to Sigsworth. She was last seen alive in Sandusky on the morning of April 21, 1950. Her body was found later that day in a ditch on Bogart Road between Columbus Avenue and Campbell Street. Today, there are more than 100 homes in that area. But, 73 years ago, most of those homes were not yet built. "At that time, Bogart Road was very rural," Sigsworth said. With so few homes at that time, there were few potential witnesses. Team effort Sigsworth said the responsibility to solve these cases necessitates working together with other agencies. "When there is a homicide, everyone works together among jurisdictions," he said. "We will help any department that asks and we know from past experience that those jurisdictions would help us if we asked." Sigsworth encouraged anyone with any information about unsolved homicides to call the sheriff's office detectives bureau at 419-627-7553.