Cold Case Killing Of Teen Girl Solved In Ohio After 45 Years

REYNOLDSBURG, OH — A 45-year-old cold case has been solved in Ohio, Attorney General Dave Yost and Reynoldsburg Police Chief Curtis Baker announced Wednesday.

“Families deserve answers, even when years have passed since they lost their loved ones,” Yost said. “This case was solved by pure determination by investigators, the application of modern DNA technology to a decades-old case and a well-timed tip from the public that proved to be true.”

Investigators said they determined Robert Meyer of Cincinnati, and Charles Webber of Columbus killed Lori Nesson in 1974. Both men are now dead. They were previously linked to one other death and two kidnappings, Yost said.

A Cold Case Solved

Nesson was a 15-year-old student at Columbus' Eastmoor High School in 1974. She performed well in school, becoming an honors student during her academic career.

Nesson went missing on Sept. 27, 1974. She was last seen at a high school football game. Her body was found on the west side of Reynoldsburg the next day.

Investigators tracked every lead they could, but the case grew cold. Technology that would help solve the killing was nearly half a century away from development, Yost said. The case would remain cold for 45 years.

Nesson's family urged Reynoldsburg police to reexamine the cold case in August 2019. Investigators agreed and asked the Franklin County Coroner's office to again evaluate the 15-year-old's autopsy. Evidence from the case was then submitted to the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation in January 2020.

Also in 2020, 10TV in Columbus ran a story on Nesson's case. A viewer contacted police and said Nesson's death shared similarities with the death of Karen Adams, a 17-year-old Whitehall girl whose body was found in Blacklick in 1975.

While he was in prison in 2012, Meyer admitted to prosecutors he had killed Adams, 10TV reported. He told investigators he would prowl for women, abduct them, sexually assault them and then kill them. He was found guilty of at least three other rapes in Ohio.

BCI's forensic evaluation of the evidence in Nesson's case led to the development of two DNA profiles of her likely assailants: Meyer and Webber. Both men are now dead but had extensive criminal histories, according to Yost's office.

Meyer was convicted of murder in 1963. He spent 10 years in the Ohio Penitentiary, where he met Weber, a fellow inmate. Both men were freed in the early 1970s and are now connected to the deaths of Nesson and Adams.

They were also connected to the kidnapping, assault and attempted murder of two other women in the northwest Ohio area. The duo were convicted of those crimes in 1977 and again incarcerated.

“Justice looks different in this case," Yost said. "Rather than a trial and conviction, this story seemingly ends at the identification of the deceased offenders. But the memory of Lori Nesson will carry on through her family and friends.”