RE: “Which cold cases frustrate you the most?” — Bonita Parker, 21 (Columbus, OH 1991)

Today, I saw a Reddit post titled “Which cold cases frustrate you the most?” by u/HockeyMom0919 on r/ColdCases. A case immediately came to mind. I figured I’d share it and it’d be a one-off, short comment. Naturally, my long-windedness got the best of me and I wrote a little bit of an essay.

Content Warning: Mention of r*pe & sexual violence, use of the word r*pe, sex-work shaming, mention of use of ableist slur

So….uh…. here it is.

I mainly research cases where the victim(s) are sex-workers or other marginalized people, so naturally, the vast majority of those cases are inherently frustrating. Out of the countless sex-worker murder cases to be plagued by poor police work & lack of coverage; one that really sticks out to me is the 1991 murder of Bonita Parker, 21 of Columbus, OH. This poor woman was just profoundly failed repeatedly by a wide array of characters in life and in death. I have some of my research linked below but I’ll give a summary.

According to police Bonita Parker was last seen the night of Sunday 8/11/91 walking on N High St in Columbus, OH. The most recent sighting I can find of Parker prior to that came the night before (Saturday 8/10/91). The manager of a diner Parker frequently hungout at, reported seeing Parker & a friend make a phone call in front of the diner, before getting into a car containing two men that pulled up later.

FRUSTRATING THING #1: The details of her last sighting are incredibly vague as N High St is a very prominent and long street in Columbus.

FRUSTRATING THING #2: I can’t find any other specific mention of this friend Bonita was with the night before, let alone if police identified or questioned the friend.

So, like I was saying. Parker’s body was found ~6:40AM 8/13/91 off a rural road in neighboring Licking County. She had been killed from a single stab wound to the heart with a double-edged knife. When she was found she was wearing a black ‘bodysuit’ & sweatpants. Investigators said they believed Parker had been killed elsewhere and dumped & that she had been dead about 12hrs at the time of discovery. Law enforcement says that despite a lack of a criminal record, Bonita was a known prostitute.

The frustration starts ramping up after that(as if unsolved murder isn’t “frustrating enough”)
FRUSTRATING THING #3: Speaks for itself

Shockingly, law enforcement was actually rather interested in this case of a murdered sex-worker…but not b/c she was the 7th one from Columbus killed since the beginning of 1990 or 5th one in 1991 alone. No. That’s wishful thinking. “Law enforcement was interested” in that a SWAT officer, who had been fucking around with Bonita, kept calling a detective working the case asking for details b/c he was a suspect. Naturally, b/c THIN BLUE LINE I guess, this detective did not tell his supervisor about SWAT Officer Oscar Singer Jr’s inquiries or that he(the detective) had been informed that Officer Singer had actually threatened the life of a woman involved in the case……

The detective was charged with departmental violations and punished by reassignment. The Columbus Police Chief would later announce that SWAT Officer Singer passed two lie detector tests and was absolved of the murder. As for Singer’s punishment for…everything else…Singer remained an active SWAT team member for the entirety of the investigation, and the Police Chief only went so far as to say that Singer “may face minor departmental charges for not divulging his relationship with Parker earlier.” Yeah, that’s right…the SWAT OFFICER, who was a murder suspect, and THREATENED TO KILL someone over this murder that he didn’t even commit…was allowed to REMAIN ON THE SWAT TEAM.

FAST FORWARD ABOUT 25 YEARS
A renewed effort was made to review:

1) Evidence in Bonita Parker’s case || 2) The history of a Gustave “Gus” Sapharas of Akron/Canton.

Sapharas, whose record included numerous assaults, an abduction, and multiple rapes was on parole at the time of Parker’s murder. Sapharas had served 13yrs for rape when he was paroled but his parole was revoked after 11 months when he was arrested on 8/31/91(18 days after Bonita was found) for repeatedly stabbing a sex-worker he picked up from the same part of Columbus that Bonita worked. The victim survived and actually stabbed him back a number of times, including once in the groin (nice).

Sapharas, now in his 70’s was interviewed by police & confronted with the discovery that his DNA was found under Bonita’s fingernails. Sapharas, who had initially denied any involvement with prostitutes in Columbus, eventually admitted that he’d been dishonest about that & that he had in fact hired and had sex with prostitutes in Columbus. However, he still said he didn’t recognize Bonita. The combination of the DNA, his criminal history, and his interview with police was enough for them to arrest him & he was eventually indicted for murder in the killing of Bonita Parker.

FRUSTRATING THING #4: “It’s frustrating, but I understand why it’s the way it is.”
Unfortunately for the prosecution, a major portion of what allowed for Sapharas to be arrested, was not admissible in court. The jurors were not allowed to be informed of Sapharas’s criminal history. The rapes, the assaults, the knife attacks, the abduction. Nothing. They just have Sapharas’s statements where he admits to being dishonest with police about not hiring prostitutes and his DNA under the fingernails of a prostitute he may have had sex with, as he’s one to do, that just happens to have been murdered. Even worse, they can’t even prove he had sex with her. There’s seminal fluid belonging to two unidentified other dudes…unidentified meaning NOT Gus. The prosecution could at least help their case by testing that seminal DNA against DNA from other suspects so they can try to rule the other suspects out and show that they did their due diligence to investigate everybody….but they forgot to…well at least forgot to until it was too late. The day before Sapharas was set to go to trial the prosecution asked the judge to postpone the trial pending the results of ongoing DNA tests to see if the seminal fluid matched other suspects. The judge said no, citing that it was 2018 and the prosecution had years to get the DNA warrants and perform those tests.

FRUSTRATING THING #5: “You thought THOSE charges would stick?”

I forgot to mention what charges they pursued against Sapharas. So despite the fact the prosecution was going to have convince the jury to overlook the fact the seminal DNA didn’t match the accused, and convict this 73-year-old man of murder based purely off him lying about hiring prostitutes and his DNA being under the fingernails of the victim…..they went for aggravated murder with prior calculation…so essentially premeditated murder(I think). That charge was dismissed almost immediately. I guess they didn’t expect it to stick b/c they also tried him for an additional murder charge for the same murder.

It didn’t matter though. The jury acquitted Sapharas of the other murder charge after 45 minutes of deliberations.

FRUSTRATING THING #6: Obviously, no double jeopardy, so you better hope he didn’t do it if you actually want justice for the family.
Unsurprisingly, Sapharas is suspected of multiple other murders and rapes across Ohio. Luckily, his post-acquittal-freedom was short-lived as in 2019 he was arrested & charged with committing two murders in NE Ohio in the 1970s. He’s currently awaiting trial being held for $5M bond.

FRUSTRATING THING #7: “It didn’t have to be like this.”
Sapharas’s criminal record for assaults and sexual violence dates all the way back to 1969 and is littered with lax punishments & disinterested policing.

• [1969] Sapharas was arrested for assaulting and attempting to rape a 20yr old woman who rejected his advances.
  — He was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge
  — Sentence: 2 YEARS OF PAROLE.
• [1977] A woman reports being raped by Sapharas. Criminal charges were filed against Sapharas upon the discovery by police that four different local women had previously reported being raped by Sapharas.
• [1990] Sapharas is paroled 13 years into the 15 to 60-year sentence he received for his 1977 rape conviction

FRUSTRATING THING #8: “Some Things Just Don’t Change.”

Flashback to Sapharas’s trial for the murder of Bonita Parker. Our old pal, SWAT Officer Oscar Singer Jr., is back and he’s on the witness stand! What is he gonna say? He says he had barely known Bonita and had only met her a few weeks prior. What’s that? One of Bonita’s friends testifies that you actually knew Bonita pretty well and had known her for at least 4 months prior to her murder?! What? The friend doesn’t have motive to lie b/c she was never a suspect(at least that I know of)??? WOW. It’s been 25 years and you still can’t stop fucking up and just tell the truth. WOW. That’s impressive. There is no reason to lie. Who gives a shit that you actually knew her for 4 months. You’re not on trial here. It is profoundly worse to get caught in a lie than anything else at this point. You’re making yourself look suspicious, and by doing so you’re hurting the case of against the person that stands to be convicted of the murder you’re a suspect in. Thank god this man is retired.

FRUSTRATING THING #9: The Treatment & Discussion of Bonita’s Mental Health/Development

Based off newspaper articles, Bonita’s mother tells a rather tragic story of close to a decade of attempting but ultimately failing to get Bonita adequate professional help/care for perceived behavior/intellectual ‘deficiencies’ she saw onset in Bonita as a middle-schooler. Mrs. Parker described her daughter as “hyper,” “gentle,” “sweet,” “naive,” “a compulsive runaway,” and “borderline mentally r******.” Mrs. Parker says she wanted the doctors & psychiatrists she took Bonita to (as one article put it) “hospitalize her daughter, evaluate her and treat her.” Mrs. Parker claims to have told these professions that “she(Bonita) was going to get killed” and “was in dire danger.” Mrs. Parker’s efforts were unsuccessful. Perhaps, the closest she came to her desired outcome came when she did convince Bonita to voluntarily commit herself to a psych center just over 2 weeks prior to her death. However, this was short-lived as Bonita was released 4 days later on her 21st birthday.

So..did the US healthcare & mental health system actively fail for nearly 10yrs to provide adequate care to an individual who may have been a risk to themself?

Maybe….probably. They’ve certainly done it before and continue to do so. There are the headstones to prove it. That’s only further supported by medical professionals’ tendencies to misdiagnose and write-off a wide array of health issues, physical and mental, as simply “lady problems.”

As frustratingly plausible as it is that the US healthcare system full-sail failed Bonita, I will say initially I found myself increasingly myth’d and even somewhat frustrated with how Mrs. Parker described Bonita’s mental state. Based on my very limited knowledge, the behaviors and traits she ascribes to Bonita certainly make sense for an autism diagnosis…but on their own really mean nothing, especially with this taking place in a time like ‘81-’91 where autism was diagnosed far far far less frequently than it is today.

Another notable point of confusion for me came from Mrs. Parker’s mentioning that she was planning on taking Bonita to the doctor to have her thyroid looked at as she (Mrs. Parker) suspected it was the reason Bonita was so “hyper.” Idk…there’s more I could get into but it’s just weird. Like going from that to ‘my daughter is “borderline mentally r******” and must be hospitalized and treated or she will get killed’ seems like 0 to 100….especially for this time period.

But admittedly I know so short of enough about Bonita’s life or the autism spectrum to have any sort of opinion on the accuracy of the description of Bonita and I don’t at all believe Mrs. Parker to be being disingenuous on how she perceived her daughter.

In Conclusion

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this case. I learn towards Gus Sapharas as the DNA connects him to her and the date, location, and murder weapon all match-up…but there are some lingering doubts. The fact that it doesn’t seem he sexually assaulted her is a major one. Given his history and the other cases he’s suspected of, rape or some form of sexual assault seems to be THE constant in his attacks. Also, it doesn’t matter if it was 1991 or 2018, SWAT Officer Singer seemingly always finds a way to make himself look suspicious. He can’t be that stupid, can he?

My Research:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1N5OMT7yhwwpB95gDVC56ddd44f3Ma7r5?usp=sharing

SOURCES

Jacobs, D. (1991, August 14). MOTHER FEARED HER RUNAWAY DAUGHTER WAS DOOMED. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 02C.

Jacobs, D. (1991, August 15). POLICE LOOK FOR LINK IN PROSTITUTES’ DEATHS. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 02B.

Cadwallader, B. (1991, August 16). SLAIN WOMAN LAST SEEN ON SUNDAY NIGHT. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 02B.

(1992, October 20) COLUMBUS OFFICER ABSOLVED IN PATASKALA-AREA SLAYING. . Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 06B.

Garrett, A., & Warsmith, S. (2019, September 16). Violence has followed suspect. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 1B.

Garrett, A., & Warsmith, S. (2019, September 11). Man accused of murdering 2 Akron-area women in ’70s. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 4B.

Kovac, M. (2018, February 2). COLD-CASE MURDER / LICKING COUNTY NE Ohio man acquitted in ’91 killing. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 1B.

Kovac, M. (2018, February 1). Crime & The Courts 1 charge dropped in ’91 murder case. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 2B.

Kovac, M. (2018, January 31). CRIME & THE COURTS 73-year-old goes on trial in 1991 slaying. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 3B.

Kovac, M. (2018, January 30). CRIME & THE COURTS Delay of murder trial over DNA testing rejected. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 4B.

Kovac, M. (2018, January 28). CRIME & THE COURTS Trial in 1991 killing in Licking County starts Tuesday. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 3B.

Smola, J. (2017, March 2). Crime & The Courts / Licking County North Canton man indicted in 1991 slaying. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 3B.

Smola, J. (2017, February 28). CRIME & THE COURTS / LICKING COUNTY Man charged in 1991 stabbing death. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 1B.

Cadwallader, B. (1992, October 8). DETECTIVE WITHHELD FACTS ON HOMICIDE, CHARGES SAY. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 06D.

Warsmith, S. (2019, September 18). Bond set at $5M for man accused in ’70s murders. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 2B.

Garrett, A., & Warsmith, S. (2019, September 13). Friend feels justice near. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 5B.

(1991, August 31) TWO VICTIMS’ STORIES CONFLICT IN GENOA TOWNSHIP STABBINGS.. Columbus Dispatch, The (OH), p. 02C.

Wells, R. (2017, March 2). Mother of murder victim: Suspect’s arrest doesn’t ease 26 years of pain. WSYX. https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/a-mothers-heartbreak-nearly-30-years-after-her-daughters-murder

Garrett, A., & Warsmith, S. (2019, September 14). Suspected murderer from Akron left crime trail spanning decades. Akron Beacon Journal. https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20190914/suspected-murderer-from-akron-left-crime-trail-spanning-decades