A teenager is found dead 3 days after going missing from a party
Afternoon: Kurt stays home from school on Friday.
Kurt skipped school on Friday, 10/23. He gets a local patron to buy him a bottle of Everclear, then he then goes to his girlfriend's house.
Sova Home
Victim
Evening: Kurt meets up with Samuel C. Carroll one block from his home, who was his way to a party.
It's unclear how Kurt and Samuel meet up, but they both head to the party at the duplex on Harvard Ave.
Person With Information / Witness
Late Night: Kurt attends a party at a duplex host by Debbie at the Harvard Ave. Duplex.
Debbie lives in a duplex less than 2 miles from where the Sovas' house. She shares the duplex with her brother Clayton, and roommate Misi.
Harvard Avenue Duplex
Late Night: Kurt becomes ill from drugs and alcohol, so Samuel takes him outside.
While at the party, Kurt becomes sick and/or disruptive. This could be from the high level of alcohol he was drinking. Samuel proceeds to take him outside.
Overnight: Samuel goes inside to get his and Kurt's jacket (2-3 minutes). When he returns, Kurt is gone.
It's 56 degrees and Samuel and Kurt are just wearing t-shirts. Samuel leaves Kurt against a chain-link fence. When he returns 2-3 minutes later, Kurt is gone. "We were out there about 20 or 30 minutes and it was cold out there - we were both in T-shirts," Carroll continued. "I then went to go and get the jackets upstairs. ... I got the jackets and went back down and he wasn't there. I was only upstairs about two or three minutes." - Samuel Carroll, the Plain Dealer
Overnight: Samuel searches the immediate area for Kurt.
Samuel searches a nearby warehouse parking lot, very close to where Kurt's body is later found. Samuel's statement - “I can only guess that someone he knew picked him up because it happened that fast. Someone had to pick him up in a car.” Assuming Kurt went home, Samuel goes back to the party.
Overnight: When Kurt doesn't return home Saturday morning, Dorothy and Ken begin to search for him.
Dorothy and Ken call around and search for him in the neighborhood.
Parent of Victim
Early Morning: Dorothy and Ken register Kurt as a missing person.
When they continue to find no trace of Kurt, Dorothy and Ken call the police to register Kurt as a missing person.
Afternoon: Dorothy hears about the party and goes to the duplex; Misi denies the party happening and Kurt being there.
After hearing rumors about a party and Kurt being there, Dorothy goes to the duplex. Misi tells her there was no party, and she didn't see Kurt that night. Debbie and Clayton were not present.
Afternoon: A pizza delivery man verifies there was a party at the duplex, and Debbie admits there was a party and Kurt was there.
Debbie told Dorothy that more than a dozen people had been at the party. Most were older than Kurt and were people he had never met. She said Kurt had been drinking heavily, but many said Kurt was not much of a drinker. "The fellow that Kurt went to the party with told me Kurt had become ill. They took him outside for some air and because it was a chilly night, he said he went upstairs to get Kurt’s jacket and he left him hanging on the fence. He said he went up to get his jacket and came back down and Kurt was gone.” That’s when I think I became hysterical. I thought, ‘My God, something happened to him at that party or in between the party and home.’ Only I didn’t in my wildest dreams expect him to turn up dead.” - Dorothy Sova, Unsolved Mysteries
Overnight: Kurt's approximate time of death based on coroners report (24-36 hrs before being found).
An autopsy was conducted by Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Lester Adelson. They could not determine an official cause of death. "The manner of death in this particular case was signed out as probably accidental. He hadn’t been beaten in any way. He hadn’t been traumatized in any way. He didn’t have enough alcohol to end his life. He had no preexisting natural disease. And as Sherlock Holmes said, ‘You eliminate all other possibilities and that which remains is the truth.’ This was a diagnosis by exclusion." - Dr. Lester Adelson, Unsolved Mysteries
Afternoon: David Trusnik sees Kurt with another boy walking on the street. A van pulls up, Kurt says, "Franko" and both boys get in the van.
Three days after he disappears, David Trusnik claims to see Kurt less than a mile from the Sova home. “I pulled over to offer Kurt a ride at this point, and a van pulled up and Kurt yelled out ‘Franko.’ They both ran over to the van and they got in. I didn’t know Kurt was missing. If I would’ve known he was missing, there would probably have been something I could’ve done. I could’ve followed the van. But I didn’t know. And two days later he was found dead. And that was the last time I saw him.” - David Trusnik, Unsolved Mysteries There are theories that "Franko" refers to Craig Franko, a gas station attendant who was killed on 12/4/1981 at a nearby Sohio gas station. This is unconfirmed.
Afternoon: A homeless man makes a strange statement to a Judy Oros about Kurt's disappearance.
The homeless man hanging around the Slavic Village Record shop sees Kurt's missing flyer and says to store manager Judy Oros: “They’re going to find him and they’re gonna find him in two days, and they’re not going to know what happened to him.”
Person of Interest / Suspect
3:00pm: Dorothy and Ken receive a phone call from Debbie that Kurt is sleeping in the basement. Ken goes there, finds nothing.
Debbie calls to say someone is sleeping in her basement, and it may be Kurt. When Ken arrives, he can tell that someone had been sleeping there, but the person was gone.
Afternoon: Kurt's body is found by 3 boys in a ravine.
Kurt's body was in the ravine near JL Furniture warehouse, 500 meters from the duplex where the party was held. Ken had just searched that ravine 24 hours before and believes Kurt was put there.
Location Of Kurt's Body
Afternoon: The homeless man shows back up at the record store and leaves flowers for Judy Oros with a note that says "Roses are red, the sky is blue. They found him dead, and they’ll find you, too.”
The police picked up the homeless man and spoke with him but determined he wasn't harmful. He wasn't seen again.
11:35pm: Craig H. Franko is killed at a Sohio gas station by Frances E Johson.
There are theories this is the same "Franko" David Trusnik heard Kurt yell when he claims to have seen him the day before his body was discovered.
Sohio Gas Station
Afternoon: Eugene Kvet is found in a ravine 2.5 miles from where Kurt was found.
Eugene Kvet, who was familiar with Kurt, was found dead a couple of months after Kurt. Both boys had been missing a few days before being found, showed a lack of physical damage, and Eugene's right shoe was also never found.
Victim of (Potentially) Related Crime
Newburgh Heights, OH
The house where Kurt Sova lived with his parents.
