The Beverly Jarosz case: a teenager strangled at home in broad daylight, and a friend police have named only as a person of interest.
On Dec 28, 1964, Beverly Jarosz, 16, was strangled and stabbed in her bedroom in Garfield Heights, Ohio. Her father found her after returning home that afternoon. Garfield Heights police say the case is a top priority, and newly found DNA and an unnamed person of significant interest have not led to a charge.
Case file at a glance
Police recovered the rope used and have since applied advanced M-Vac DNA testing to key items, which they say produced newly discovered DNA. Her family believes she knew her killer. The Ohio Attorney General says several possible suspects were developed. No one has been charged in more than 60 years.
- At home, in daylight.Det. Mark Menary said the killing happened around 1:30 p.m. Her father found her between 4 and 4:30 p.m.
- Strangled and stabbed.The Attorney General says she was strangled and stabbed. Police recovered the rope.
- New DNA.M-Vac testing on key items found DNA that was not known before, police say.
- A person of interest.Police have called a man a person of significant interest. His name is withheld and he has not been charged.
Editorial assessment of public sources, not a finding of fact. Nobody named here has been charged unless this page says so.
What happened
Details come from NBC News (Dec 29, 2024), News 5 Cleveland, and the Ohio Attorney General (case 2032).
The attack
Beverly Jarosz is attacked in her bedroom at her family home. A friend who came by could not get in, noticed doors open or closed that were normally the opposite, and heard loud music from upstairs.
Found
A second friend phones her grandmother. Her father arrives home and finds her.
Suspects developed
The Ohio Attorney General says the investigation produced several possible suspects. A friend who was interviewed after her death could not be charged on the evidence then.
Sixty years
Police hold a memorial and say advanced M-Vac DNA testing on key items found new DNA. Menary says the case is a top priority.
Person of interest
Police announce a man as a person of significant interest. They say his alibi has inconsistencies and the people he said he was with have refused to cooperate further.
Victims
A 16-year-old described by family as well liked.
Photo: Ohio Attorney General listing. The source states no reuse license; shown at the site owner's direction. Contact us to have it removed.
DiedBeverly Jarosz, 16
Beverly Anne Jarosz of Garfield Heights. Her sister has been kept updated by police.
We found no freely licensed photo, so a silhouette is shown. Family members or others who want a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Evidence
What exists, and what each piece may or may not mean.
| Item | What is known | Disputed or unknown |
|---|---|---|
| The rope | Recovered at the scene. | Whether it has been DNA tested in full: partly, per police. |
| M-Vac DNA | Newly discovered DNA on key items, per police. | Whose DNA, and whether it matches anyone: not public. |
| The scene | Doors in unusual positions and loud music, per a friend. | Photographs and notes: not public. |
| The weapon | A knife was reportedly used. | Not recovered per public sources. |
Public documents
NBC News and the state listing are the public record.
| Document | Holder | What it shows | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Attorney General: Beverly Jarosz | Ohio Attorney General | Case 2032. | Online, free |
| NBC News Dateline | NBC News | Police interview, Dec 2024. | Online, free |
| Garfield Heights police file | Garfield Heights Police | The 1964 investigation. | Withheld or sealed |
Access labels: Online, free = we could open it. Fan-hosted copy = a private researcher posted scans; originals are held by the named agency, and we cannot vouch for completeness. Quoted in news = reporters read it; we did not see the document itself. Request needed = held by an agency or court. Withheld = the holder has not released it. We cannot reach non-public records, and we do not try to.
Online discussion (unverified)
Where people talk about this case online, and how to read it.
| Platform | Live search | What you tend to find |
|---|---|---|
| Google: Reddit | site:reddit.com search | Public Reddit threads that Google has indexed, including old discussions. |
| Google: X and Twitter | X and Twitter posts | Public posts and profiles that appear in search results. |
| Google: Facebook | Public Facebook pages and posts | Only public pages and groups that Google can see. Private groups never appear. |
| Google: Instagram and TikTok | Instagram and TikTok | Public posts, memorials, and videos. |
| Google: forums | Forums and message boards | Long-running true-crime forums. |
| Google News | Latest news | Newest reporting, which is usually more reliable than posts. |
| Search Reddit | Long discussion threads and theories, often by amateur researchers. No sign-in needed to read. | |
| X (Twitter) | Search X | Short posts, news links, and anniversary notes. May require sign-in. |
| Search Facebook | Public groups and family or community pages. Requires sign-in. | |
| Search #beverlyjarosz | Memorial and true-crime posts. Requires sign-in. | |
| YouTube | Search YouTube | Documentaries, news clips, and interviews. Quality varies widely. |
Be careful with online theories. Naming a private person as a suspect can harm an innocent family, and many "identifications" on forums have been wrong. Our own tools could not read these platforms: Reddit blocks automated access, and the others require an account. The Google searches above work from your browser. To get new public mentions by email, make a free Google Alert for the case name in quotation marks.
Coverage timeline and verification
What local and national reports say, and when we last checked for a solution.
| Date | Outlet | What it reported | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 29, 2024 | |||
| NBC News Dateline | |||
| New M-Vac DNA; police call it a top priority. | |||
| Read | |||
| About 2025 (undated) | |||
| News 5 Cleveland | |||
| Police name an unnamed person of significant interest. | |||
| Read | |||
| Current | |||
| Ohio Attorney General | |||
| Case 2032 listing. | |||
| Read |
Status is re-checked on a regular schedule. If you know of a development we missed, use the clue form near the top of this page or the contact form, and include a link.
Suspects
Police have a person of significant interest. He is not named and not charged.
A friend who spent time in her home
Why named: Police say he was interviewed after her death, his alibi has inconsistencies, and people he named have refused further cooperation. They say he often carried a knife and rope as hobbies.
Against: No charge has been filed. His name is withheld. A person of interest is not an accused person.
Other possible suspects
Why named: The Attorney General says several possible suspects were developed.
Against: No names are public.
Where a card shows a silhouette, we found no photo. Anyone who wants a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Latest lead: new DNA and the person of interest
The newest public development is police naming a person of significant interest.
What is known
- Garfield Heights police use advanced DNA techniques and say they found new DNA.
- They announced a person of significant interest; his name is withheld.
- Det. Mark Menary says the case is a top priority.
What would settle it
- Compare the new DNA with the person of interest, if lawful samples can be obtained.
- Genetic genealogy if the DNA is not a match to known suspects.
- Re-interview the people tied to his alibi.
A killing by someone she knew, in her own home
We put the chance that she knew her killer at roughly 85%, because it happened in her home and police report no forced entry. We put the chance of a charge within five years at roughly 25%, because police have new DNA and an active person of interest.
Editorial judgment, not statistics.
Elimination matrix
"—" means no public information, not a clean result.
| Person or idea | Knew her | Physical link | Legal outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person of interest (unnamed) | ✓ friend, per police | ? DNA work ongoing | — not charged |
| A stranger | ✗ family believes she knew him | — | — |
✗ excluded or contradicted · ✓ supports · ? disputed · — nothing public. No cell is an official finding.
Our hypothesis
Editorial reading of public records. A working theory, not a finding, and it names no individual.
A personal attack by someone she let in
- It was daytime. Loud music was playing.
- The home was entered easily. Doors were in unusual positions.
- She had been stalked, her family says. A man was obsessed with her.
- The DNA may decide it. New testing found new DNA.
Judgment, not statistics.
Missing links
Questions raised by gaps in the public record.
1. The DNA profile
Whether it is male and whether it matches anyone.
2. The alibi
What the people named in it say.
3. The friends
Who visited that day and in what order.
4. The weapon
The knife and where it went.
5. The 1964 file
Interviews and photographs.
6. The date of the report
When police announced the person of interest.
Evidence gaps
"Not public" means we could not find a report.
| Item | Tested | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| M-Vac results | Tested around 2024. | Full results: not public. |
| Rope | Collected. | Retention and testing: partly public. |
| Police file | Held by Garfield Heights Police. | Public index: not available. |
Forensic tech
| Tool | What it could do | Status here |
|---|---|---|
| DNA from retained evidence | Identify a donor or exclude people. | Unknown; not reported |
| Forensic genetic genealogy | Identify an unknown donor from relatives. | Needs usable DNA; none reported |
| Ballistics database (NIBIN) | Link recovered casings or bullets to other crimes. | Not reported |
Solved cases
Local cases that moved after decades.
Carol Sue Klaber (Boone County, KY, 1976)
Investigators say a private genealogy investigation helped them identify Thomas Dunaway, who died in 1990, as the man who killed the 16-year-old. He cannot be indicted, so prosecutors sent a letter saying he would have been charged. The lesson: genealogy can name a killer after decades, even when no trial is possible.
Forensic genetic genealogy training
In 2024, local investigators were being trained in the technique, which has already helped solve Cincinnati-area cases, according to FOX19. The lesson: the tool is now local, so cases with usable DNA have a real path forward.
Golden State Killer
Old crime-scene DNA matched relatives in a public database and led to a 2018 arrest. The lesson: a usable sample can still work after decades.
Case details come from public news coverage and the Boone County Sheriff's cold-case list. Confirm in court records.
False leads
| Claim | Source and date | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| A named suspect did it | Podcasts and forums | Police have not named anyone. Treat as unproven. |
| Details of the scene | Various | Accounts differ on timing and who found her. |
Where
She was killed in her family home in Garfield Heights, a suburb southeast of Cleveland. We do not publish the address.
Open in maps: Garfield Heights, Ohio. We show no photograph of the scene.
Source ratings
| Source | Type | Rating | Use with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBC News Dateline, Dec 29, 2024 | National news | A- | Police interview. |
| News 5 Cleveland | Local news | B+ | Reports the person of interest; the page showed no date. |
| Ohio Attorney General listing | Agency | A | Case 2032; opened. |
Records
Garfield Heights Police Department
Lead agency. Det. Mark Menary: 216-475-5686 (as published); please confirm before calling.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Charging decisions.
Ohio Attorney General (BCI)
Case 2032.
Sample public-records request
Under the Ohio Public Records Act, I request copies of non-exempt records relating to the December 28, 1964 homicide of Beverly Jarosz in Garfield Heights, including incident reports, laboratory reports, and any evidence inventory. Please send electronic copies. If any part is withheld, please identify the exemption relied on and release all reasonably segregable material.
Agencies often withhold records of open investigations, so expect partial answers.
Remembering the victims
Beverly was 16. Her sister Carol has kept the case in public view.
News & databases
In the news
Loading headlines…
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where they disagree, we say so above.
- Beverly Jarosz, 1964 murder, Ohio cold case, NBC News Dateline, Dec 29, 2024 (facts, DNA, police statements).
- Garfield Heights police identify person of interest, News 5 Cleveland (person of interest; undated copy).
- Beverly Anne Jarosz, Unsolved Homicide, Ohio Attorney General (case 2032).
The person-of-interest report had no date in the copy we read. The knife and the alibi details come from that report. Her family's belief about a stalker comes from News 5 and is not a police finding. We name no one. We found no charge.
Change log
- Oct 8, 2026: File published.