https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Cold-Case/Homicides/Gervins
On February 15,1992, Columbus resident Darlene Gervins, 29, was found deceased in her home by a friend. The friend was bringing her children home.
Apparently, the cause of death was strangulation just like Janet Amar and Frances Smith.
Gervins left Scatters Bar at midnight on February 15 with a black male, between 30-40 years old. Currently, the man would be at least in his 60s.
Some of the bar patrons saw Gervins leave the bar with the man who could have killed her. They gave a description but it is unclear if there was a composite sketch of the man.
Scatters Bar, at Lilley Avenue and E. Main Street, was a few blocks from Gervins’s home on Lilley Ave. Her home was also in the same neighborhood as the locations of where Amar and Smith were found. Amar’s homicide occurred on January 23, 1992 – a little less than a month before Gervins’s homicide.
It is entirely possible that it was the same man from Scatters Bar that killed Gervins, Amar and Smith. Did they know him from the neighborhood? I totally believe that the killer was familiar with the east side of Columbus. He probably lived or worked in the area.
I’m not the first person to notice that in the 1980s and 1990s there were several cases in which the victims were strangled. Many of the victims were African-American women. Some of the women had links to prostitution. However, I think that the women in these cases were easy targets – not necessarily because of prostitution.
Of course, not every strangulation case is connected but I believe that many of the cases could involve the same killer. There could even be two serial killers, who happen to have similar MO’s (modus operandi).
The possibility of a serial killer in Columbus was reported but no one seemed to pay attention to the news. Unfortunately, the list of victims increased instead of anyone finding the killer. In 1992, there were eight similar deaths. In 2002, there were 24.
It is not to late to come forward with information to give these ladies and their families justice.
Contact information: Rewards may be available for information on a case that leads to a conviction by contacting Central Ohio’s Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-8477 or visiting their website.
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