Barbara Blatnik
Seventeen-year-old Barbara Blatnik was found strangled near the Ohio Turnpike in Northfield. Her case has been tentatively linked to other unsolved murders along the turnpike corridor.
On December 20, 1987, the body of seventeen-year-old Barbara Blatnik was discovered near the Ohio Turnpike in Northfield, Summit County, Ohio. She had been strangled. Barbara had been a student at Cuyahoga Falls High School.
The investigation revealed Barbara had been seen at a bar earlier that evening despite being underage. She left the bar and was believed to have accepted a ride from an unknown person.
Barbara's murder has been tentatively linked to other unsolved homicides of young women along the Ohio Turnpike corridor in the late 1980s, raising the possibility of a serial killer operating in the area. However, no definitive connection between the cases has been established.
The Summit County Prosecutor's Office cold case unit continues to investigate Barbara's murder. Advances in DNA technology have prompted renewed forensic analysis of evidence from the case.
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