AKRON, Ohio — A 78-year-old Stark County man has been found guilty of multiple murder charges in connection with the slayings of two women in the 1970s in Summit County.
Gustave Sapharas, 78, of Jackson Township, could be sentenced to life in prison without parole after he was convicted of the murders of Karen Bentz, 18, of Akron, who was found dead on April 29, 1970, and Loretta Jean Davis, 20, of Brimfield, who was found dead on Sept. 28, 1975, according to Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh.
The conviction was praised by the Tallmadge Police Department. Doug Bohon, who retired as a captain in the department last year, had reopened the case and was able to collect enough evidence to lead to Sapharas’ arrest and conviction, the department says in a post on Facebook.
“This is one of the proudest moments in TPD history and most likely the greatest individual achievement as well,” the post says.
The prosecutor’s office says Bentz was last seen alive at about 11 p.m. on April 28, 1970. Her body was found on the morning of April 29 on the side of Indian Hills Drive in Tallmadge. She had been stabbed multiple times and strangled, according to prosecutors.
Davis was last seen alive at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 28, 1975, in Tallmadge. Her body was found later that day on the side of Congress Lake Road in Portage County. Davis was stabbed to death, prosecutors say.
Sapharas was found guilty of aggravated murder; murder; murder in the first degree (abduction resulting in death) involving an abduction; murder in the second degree; and maiming or disfiguring another.
Prosecutors say Sapharas was arrested and indicted in 2019, but was charged based on Ohio laws when the crimes were committed.
Judge Alison Breaux is scheduled to sentence Sapharas on April 5.
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