Police Probe Area Killings
by Jane Mastin
A connection between the death of Michael A. Riley and the murders of other Indianapolis men linked to the gay community has again surfaced. When Riley was found strangled June 5, 1983, police said it was premature to connect his murder with other murders involving homosexual activity at the time. But now, investigators believe there may be a strong connection between Riley’s death and those of nine other Indianapolis men found in surrounding counties and in Ohio. State Police and authorities from Hancock, Hamilton and Shelby County said Tuesday there are many similarities between the deaths of five Indianapolis men found in Ohio since 1985 and the five men found in central Indiana since 1980. Nine of the 10 victims were known to be gay or had links to the gay community in Indianapolis, authorities said. Their nude or semi-nude bodies were found in rural Indiana or Ohio during the last 10 years and most died of strangulation. The 10th victim was found Sept. 12 in an abandoned railroad bed in Darke County, Ohio. He was identified Tuesday as Thomas R. Clevenger, 19, Indianapolis. No cause of death has been determined.
In 1983, Riley’s body was found in Hancock County in a Blue River Township creek at CR 500S east of CR 400E. Riley was from Indianapolis, not Hancock County as was reported in Tuesday’s edition of the Daily Reporter. The cause of death was ligature, or rope-type, strangulation. Riley, 22, was discovered by a county resident who peered over the bridge on CR 500S and saw the partially submersed remains of Riley’s body, reports stated. Riley’s case was compared in 1983 to other killings around Indianapolis involving homosexual activity. Some of those slayings were also caused by strangulation, but other potentially related cases failed to reveal a cause of death. Police said then Riley was the eighth young man since 1980 to die and have his body left in an isolated area outside Indianapolis. Seven of those victims were Indianapolis residents and had some link to the city’s gay community. Riley was last seen in Indianapolis probe May 29, 1983. He was leaving the Vogue, an Indianapolis nightclub in Broad Ripple, about 2 a.m. with an unidentified man. A composite sketch of the man was circulated by police after the murder, but he was not identified. Authorities determined Riley’s date of death as May 29.
The bodies of other Indianapolis men found in nearby counties are: Michael Petree, 15, found in June 1980 in a Hamilton County drainage ditch; Maurice Taylor, 23, found in July 1982 in Weasel Creek in Hamilton County; Delvoyd Baker, 14, found in October 1982 in Hamilton County; and James Robbins, 21, found in October 1987 in a Shelby County drainage ditch. Hancock County Sheriff Nick Gulling said some of the men died of strangulation, but not all of them. “There are some exceptions,” he said. However, the murders are very similar too similar to be unrelated. “There are a lot of similarities,” Gulling said. “In some cases there’s definitely a connection, we feel.” Despite the similarities, authorities in Indiana and Ohio stopped short of calling the slayings the work of a serial killer. “We’re certainly not using the term serial killer,” Gulling said. “We’re not saying there is one person doing it, but there are certain similarities that make you consider that we are dealing with one suspect.
“Some may not be totally related, but they’re close enough that we’re looking at it,” Gulling said. “We’re not going to let this thing die,” said Shelby County Sheriff’s Detective Mike Herndon. “We just can’t ignore the similarities.” Bodies found in Preble County are: Eric Allen Roettger, 17, found in May 1985; Michael Alan Glenn, 29, found in August 1986; Steven L. Elliott, 26, found in August 1990; and Clay Russell Boatman, 32, found in August 1990. Indiana and Ohio authorities planned to meet Friday to discuss ‘ possible links among all the deaths. Preble County Prosecutor Bill Dues said Monday he had turned up no evidence indicating a serial killer may be responsible for the slayings. However, Dues acknowledged that police haven’t ruled out the possibility. And he said investigators are continuing to check out leads.
