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Kurt sova1

Kurt Sova

Real Name: Kurt Sova
Nicknames: No Known Nicknames
Location: Newburgh Heights, Ohio
Date: October 28, 1981

Case

Details: Kurt Sova's death has been riddled by one contradiction and cover-up after another. On October 28, 1981, 17-year-old Kurt departed for a Halloween party at a duplex. The party was composed of people from nearby Detroit, of which he was one of the youngest there, and people to which he had never been acquainted with prior to this event. Guests later commented that he had been drinking Everclear, the strongest drink on the market and illegal in many parts of the United States. The news surprised his friends and family as they did not know him to be a hardened drinker. Also, his skinny build and lack of past drinking did not give him a high tolerance for the likes of Everclear. One party-goer later said that he took an intoxicated Kurt outdoors for some fresh air, leaving him hanging on the chain link fence near the duplex. When the guest returned shortly with Kurt's jacket, he had vanished. It was unknown if he had stumbled off into the back country due to his drunken state or if he had been abducted. When his mother later came looking for him, the tenant who rented the duplex stated that she had never seen him nor hosted any party. When a pizza delivery man reported to police that he made a large shipment of pizzas to the duplex and saw people making out, showing there was indeed a party, causing the tenant to change her story. This only served to fuel Mr. and Mrs. Sova's belief that something had happened to him and the hostess tried to cover her tracks.

After he vanished, Kurt's parents registered him as a missing child, and papered the neighborhoods and local businesses with leaflets looking for him. One such business was a record store, which was visited by a strange man who told the owner that it was fruitless of her to have the missing child poster of Kurt, and remarked "Might as well take it down, he's gonna be dead in a couple of days". A sighting of a living Kurt came from a school friend of his who was en route to a job interview. The man was driving and saw him head towards a van with people who were not native to Newburgh Heights. The man also reported hearing him calling out "Hey, Franco!". Unfortunately, he was unaware of his status as a missing child at the time and did not suspect anything out of the ordinary.

The renter of the duplex later contacted Mrs. Sova stating that Kurt had slept on a cot in her basement. She was reluctant to believe her on the basis of her multiple lies, but Mr. Sova inspected the basement. He saw a cot that looked like it had been recently used. Six days after the party, three little boys were exploring a ravine in the back country near the Sova residence. They found Kurt's corpse, marked by a barefoot state and a bright yellow T-shirt which stood out from the natural tones of the ground. Police could not find any sign of assault. His body suffered no injuries expect for a few minor scrapes and bruises as a result of being barefoot. Nor could police find his right shoe, although his left foot was found wedged in a pile of rocks near his body.

The cause of his death could not be determined. Coroners later concluded Kurt died naturally, but that is not accepted by the Sova family. Some believe that his death may be related to the death of another teenager from the local area, Eugene Kvet, a boy whom he had been acquainted with before their deaths. Interestingly, Eugene was also found barefoot, and his right shoe was never found.
Suspects: The authorities would like to identify a man named Franco who Kurt had been hanging out with in the days before the party. It is possible but not determined that he is the same person in the record store who predicted Kurt would be found dead. On the date of his death, the record store owner whom had earlier been told the search for him was pointless was visited again by this man. He had given her a bouquet of flowers with a card that read "Roses are red, the sky is blue. They found him dead and they will find you dead too". She felt sufficiently intimidated by this gesture and reported it to police, who arrested and interrogated the drifter. Police determined this man was mentally and emotionally disturbed, but ruled him out as a suspect in Kurt's death. After his release from police custody he left Newburgh Heights. He has not been seen since.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the November 23, 1988 episode.
Results: Unsolved
Links: None

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