Eight young girls were abducted and murdered in a horrifying killing rampage that terrorized America's Midwest during the 1980s – with their bodies dumped in secluded locations as their killer roamed free.
Now, more than four decades later, a new DNA breakthrough could finally help crack one of the region's most disturbing cold cases.
Among the victims were Tina Marie Harmon, 12, Krista Lea Harrison, 11, Dawn Hendershot, seven, and Debbie Smith, just 10. Debbie's disappearance from a crowded Ohio carnival ended in the discovery of her mutilated remains beside a riverbed.
Their brutal deaths left families shattered and investigators scrambling to establish whether the crimes were connected.
Now, fresh forensic testing has breathed new life into the investigation surrounding Debbie's murder, raising hopes that modern DNA technology could finally expose the person responsible – and potentially uncover the truth behind other killings that have haunted northeast Ohio for generations.
Debbie vanished on June 25, 1983, while attending a carnival in Massillon, Ohio, with her mother, Linda Smith, and her teenage brother, David.
The 10-year-old had been riding the Tilt-A-Whirl with David when Linda briefly turned away to get drinks for her children.
When she returned, Debbie was nowhere to be found.
David could not explain where his little sister had disappeared to, and a frantic search of the carnival grounds began. The family then rushed home, hoping she might have returned on her own. She had not.
In the summer of 1983, Debbie Smith had just finished fifth grade at Bowers Elementary School. She was living at her grandparents house, William and Grace May, with her mother and her two brothers, David and Michael, who was 14. She was at a carnival with her brother and mother when suddenly Debbie vanished
Investigators are now taking a second look at Robert Buell, who was a suspect in 1983. Buell was executed in 2002 for kidnapping and strangling 11-year-old Krista Harrison in Marshallville in 1982. After his death, Buell who was convicted of raping two women, was also linked by DNA to the 1981 murder of 12-year-old Tina Harmon, who was last seen in Lodi
Four girls slain between 1981 and 1983 in Stark and Wayne counties .Tina Marie Harmon, 12, from Creston in October 1981. Krista Lea Harrison, 11, from Marshallville in July 1982. Dawn Hendershot, 7, from Massillon in September 1982. All had disappeared and were later found dead.
Police launched a vast search involving around 200 officers, firefighters and volunteers. They questioned carnival workers, inspected amusement operators' vehicles and combed nearby streets, buildings, railroad tracks and riverbanks.
Linda was petrified because Debbie suffered from juvenile diabetes and required insulin injections twice daily.
For nine days, searchers scoured the area, desperately hoping to find the missing schoolgirl alive.
Then came the discovery that shattered the family's hopes.
On August 6, 1983 a canoeist changing his clothes beside the Tuscarawas River stumbled upon badly decomposed human remains around 15 miles from Debbie's home.
Investigators compared hair recovered from the body with hair taken from Debbie's comb, confirming a match. Experts subsequently established her identity.
A Smithsonian expert determined that Debbie had suffered a stab wound through her second rib that may have pierced her heart. Her throat had been cut, and investigators also considered whether she had been strangled.
Pieces of wax were found beneath her remains, while a similar substance was discovered nearby. Investigators suspected she may also have been sexually abused.
In August 1983, a canoeist found Debbie's body in a wooded area near the Tuscarawas River near Bolivar in Tuscarawas County. Investigators say someone stabbed her to death. Investigators searching Buell's Franklin Township home in October 1983 seized five white candles, a carton of white candle wax and a carton of orange-white paraffin
Investigators also took two unopened cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon from Buell's fridge. Beer cans were found near Debbie's body. An affidavit described a canoe trip Buell took along the Tuscarawas River two weeks before Debbie's disappearance. Her body was found near a canoe livery
Buell was convicted in Krista's abduction and murder and sentenced to death in 1984. He wasn't charged in Debbie or Tina's slayings. A few months ago, Dadisman sent some of Debbie's clothing, along with other items found at the crime scene, to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, but DNA testing did not produce a match to Buell or anyone else
Whoever had taken Debbie had left her family with a nightmare that would endure for decades.
Her uncle, Terry May, remembered her as a 'happy-go-lucky' child who loved coloring, playing outside and visiting the park. 'She was a wonderful little girl,' May added, 'Beautiful little girl, ambitious, active all the time.'
But Debbie's murder was not the only case haunting northeast Ohio.
Tina Harmon disappeared from Creston in October 1981, while Krista Harrison vanished from Marshallville in July 1982. Seven-year-old Dawn Hendershot was killed in Massillon in September 1982, with her neighbor, Donald Maurer, subsequently convicted of her murder.
The killings fueled fears that a predator could be targeting young girls across the region. Investigators began comparing cases, searching for similarities that might reveal whether one person was responsible for multiple attacks.
By October 1983, attention had turned to Robert Buell, a 43-year-old Akron planning department employee suspected of involvement in the murders of Debbie, Tina and Krista.
Buell had already been implicated in separate abduction and rape cases involving two adult women. He pleaded no contest in those cases and received a lengthy prison sentence.
Investigators searching his home discovered candles and quantities of wax, raising questions about whether the substance could have played a role in Debbie's abuse. Beer cans found near her remains and an account of a canoe trip Buell had taken along the Tuscarawas River shortly before her disappearance also attracted attention.
But despite the suspicions, Buell was never charged with Debbie's murder.
However he was convicted of Krista's abduction and murder in 1984 and sentenced to death. Prosecutors presented DNA evidence including carpet fibers linking Krista's clothing and remains to Buell's home and van.
Buell maintained his innocence in the girls' murders, insisting that the real killer remained at large.
Yet before his execution in September 2002, he told witnesses, including Krista's parents: 'I didn't kill your daughter.'
His claims did little to settle the questions surrounding the other cases.
Around the time Debbie vanished, a chilling pattern of abductions were occurring all over Ohio. Kimberly King, 12, disappeared from Warren, Michigan. In 1979,Tiffany Papesh, 8, was abducted from Maple Heights; her body was never found.
Kelly Prosser, 8, kidnapped and murdered in Columbus in September 1982 and the same happened to Gloria Pointer, 14, in Cleveland in December 1984.
Lastly Marilyn, Sissy Reeb was just 13 when she was brutally murdered in 1985.
Years later, true-crime author James Renner raised a controversial alternative theory in his 2008 book, The Serial Killer's Apprentice.
Renner suggested that a male relative who lived with Buell at the time might have been responsible for some of the killings, specifically referencing Harmon and Harrison. He said the relative resembled Buell, had access to his vehicle and potentially had access to materials used as evidence.
James Renner, a true-crime author wondered if a relative of Buell who was living with him at the time of the slayings and resembled Buell may have played a part in the slayings of four other girls around the same time (Marilyn Reeb who was also murdered at 13 is not pictured)
Renner also said the relative had described conversations about driving around looking at young women and discussing abductions.
The theory has not been proven, and investigators have not established that the relative was responsible for any of the murders.
In 2009, authorities reopened Tina's case and subjected evidence to DNA testing. The results matched Buell's DNA, with Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray reporting that the probability of a coincidental match was approximately one in 96 trillion.
Prosecutors said the findings supported their conclusion that Buell had acted alone.
But Debbie's killer remained at large, leaving her murder among the enduring mysteries of the period.
Now, a renewed investigation has offered fresh hope.
In October 2024, Massillon police revisited Debbie's case after being contacted by the Porchlight Project, a nonprofit established to help solve cold cases with promising investigative leads.
The organization has supported investigations involving previously unsolved murders, including the 1987 killing of 17-year-old Barbara Blatnik, in which genetic genealogy helped investigators identify a suspect who died before he could stand trial.
Massillon police declined the organization's offer of direct assistance but decided to carry out additional forensic testing of evidence recovered during Debbie's investigation.
Detective Shaun Dadisman later confirmed that DNA testing of clothing and other items had failed to identify a match for Buell or anyone else.
The results did not identify a killer, but they have given investigators another reason to revisit evidence collected more than 40 years ago.
The possibility that Debbie's killer could still be alive remains on the table.
'That is true. It's very possible,' Dadisman said.
Renner said he thinks the exclusion of Buell in the newest DNA testing lends credence to his theory of Buell's relative potentially being involved in the deaths of Debbie, Tina, and Krista. He said he has long pushed for Stark and Wayne county investigators to take a closer look at Buell's relative, who is alive and living in southern Ohio.
Buell's DNA was linked to Tina, which means he was present and had some interaction with her, Renner said.
'But I don't think he acted alone,' Renner said of Buell. 'And my suspicion is (Buell) was not the one that actually was carrying out the murders of these girls.'
The Porchlight Project remains willing to help fund genetic genealogy testing if investigators believe it could advance the case.
Dadisman has pledged to continue working on the investigation.
'When I began investigating this case, I had a daughter the same age as Debbie when she was abducted, so it goes without saying, these acts of violence on children break my heart,' he said.
'Although several family members are deceased, I believe justice still needs served here on earth.'
For Debbie's surviving relatives, the prospect of finally learning who killed her has remained elusive for more than four decades.
Her mother and grandparents died without knowing what happened to the little girl who disappeared during an ordinary family outing.
Now, as investigators revisit the evidence with modern forensic techniques, there is renewed hope that the mystery could finally be solved.
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