CLEVELAND, OH — Snow was starting to melt on Feb. 5, 1975. Temperatures were slightly warmer than usual, hitting about 39 degrees, the Old Farmer’s Almanac said. It was warm enough that three teenage boys decided to stroll through Mill Stream Reservation in Strongsville. It was a fateful decision.
During their trek through the woods, the teens stumbled on a skeleton. The remains appeared human and were lying next to the Rocky River, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. There was a bullet wound in the skull. What no one knew then was that it would take 44 years to identify those remains.
This week, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner announced that those remains — unidentified for more than four decades — belonged to Linda Pagano, an Akron 17-year-old that went missing in 1974. She left her house after an argument with her step-father and was never seen again. Law enforcement didn’t connect the remains to the missing girl at the time.
While law enforcement was excited to say it had finally identified the remains, the Cleveland Metropark Rangers were quick to add that this is now an open homicide investigation.
“The Cleveland Metroparks Rangers would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Linda Pagano,” said Cleveland Metroparks Lieutenant Don Sylvis. “This remains an open homicide investigation, and we’re committed to pursuing any leads, and if possible, bringing Linda’s killer to justice.”
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A Case Left Cold
After Pagano’s remains were discovered on the banks of the river, then Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch determined the bones belonged to a white woman in her early 20s. Her death was ruled a homicide on Feb. 12, 1975.
The unidentified remains were eventually buried at Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Highland Hills on May 15, 1975. Little progress had been made on the case.
And little progress would be made on the case for 40 years.
Despite a national search, “all leads were exhausted,” Gilson said at a press conference.
Then, on June 21, 2016, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) let the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office know about a case not included in their unidentified cases list, the case of a missing teenager from Akron named Linda Pagano. Days later the case was entered into the NamUS database and investigation into possible matches began.
Six months passed.
On December 5, 2016, the Akron Police contacted Gilson’s office and said they had a possible match for the Strongsville remains. Over the next few days, the missing person’s dental records were provided to Gilson.
Dr. Kent Caserta, an odontologist, compared Linda Pagano’s dental records (prior to her death) to the remains on December 13, 2016.
Between January and August 2017, the Medical Examiner held consultations with city council representatives, the cemetery and other officials about possibly exhuming the buried remains. In October, the body was exhumed with help from the University of Akron.
The remains were consistent with those examined by Hirsch in the 1970s.
In December 2017, bone samples from the exhumed remains, plus DNA samples from some of Pagano’s siblings, were sent for mitochondrial DNA testing at the University of North Texas. The testing showed a material link between the remains and Pagano’s siblings.
On June 29, 2018, the tentative ID of the remains was confirmed by DNA comparison. The remains found on Feb. 5, 1975 were Linda Pagano.
“It is very gratifying to bring closure to this part of the investigation. We at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, gratefully acknowledge the many individuals, past and present, who participated in this investigation.” said Gilson. “We never stop trying to identify those people who pass through this office without a name.
“On a personal level, this work was especially satisfying as this case was originally examined by my teacher and mentor, Dr. Charles Hirsch, who worked in Cuyahoga County before becoming the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City.”
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Photo from Akron Police/Help ID ME