Man accused of murdering 2 Akron-area women in ’70s

Wednesday morning in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

The charges reflect laws that were in place at the time of the murders, prosecutors said.

Bentz’s body was found on the morning of April 29, 1970, just off Indian Hills Road in Tallmadge. She had been stabbed seven or eight times in the chest.

Davis’ body was found about noon Sept. 28, 1975, along Congress Lake Road in Suffield Township. She had been stabbed twice — once in each breast.

Tallmadge police Sgt. Doug Bohon decided in 2013 to take another look at Bentz’s case. He was able to develop new evidence and tied Bentz’s killing to that of Davis.

Sapharas was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of carrying a concealed weapon for an Oct.

11, 1976, assault on a 28-year-old Cuyahoga Falls woman. He was sentenced in February 1977 to 15 to 60 years in prison. He was released in November 1990 and returned to prison in October 1991 for a parole violation. He was released again in 2002.

Sapharas returned to court last year, accused of the August 1991 murder of a 21-yearold Columbus woman. Bonita Parker’s clothed body was found along a road in Licking County in August 1991. She had a single stab wound in her heart, according to a Columbus Dispatch story.

Sapharas was linked to the case by DNA found under Parker’s fingernails and on her pantyhose, and a sample on her underwear was consistent with his profile. There also were unknown male profiles in vaginal swabs, and Sapharas’ DNA wasn’t present in those samples.

The evidence wasn’t enough to convince Licking County jurors, who acquitted Sapharas after deliberating for about 40 minutes.