On Oct 29, 1984, 14-year-old Leslie Cross was found dead in a hallway of the Sherwood Village Apartments in Bedford Heights, Ohio. She lived in another building in the complex and was last seen walking her dog. She had been strangled. No one has been charged.
Police found her dog's collar and chain and some gloves in a bush near the building. The coroner could not say whether a leash or hands were used. Detectives re-tested DNA around 2010, and in 2025 the police chief said no DNA remains that could be resubmitted. Police say they still have leads and focused on an unnamed person of interest in recent years.
Editorial assessment of public sources, not a finding of fact. Nobody named here has been charged unless this page says so.
Details come from a Cleveland 19 report of Oct 31, 2025 and News 5 Cleveland. An Attorney General page with this surname is a different victim.
Leslie Cross is found dead in a hallway of the Sherwood Village Apartments, half-dressed and lying by a doorway. She had been walking her dog.
Officers find her dog's collar and chain, plus gloves, in a bush near the building. The dog is later found safe.
Police re-test DNA evidence. Her mother says she wants to know what happened to her child before she dies.
Police focus on a person of interest, who is not named. They once partnered with the Cuyahoga County Cold Case Unit.
Chief Michael Marotta says no DNA remains that could be resubmitted for analysis. Police ask for the public's help.
A 14-year-old with many friends and good grades.
Described by police as well loved, with many friends and good grades. Her mother, Pat Cross, has sought answers for decades. We found no photo for her.
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.
What exists, and what each piece may or may not mean.
| Item | What is known | Disputed or unknown |
|---|---|---|
| The cause of death | Strangulation; the coroner could not tell whether a leash or hands were used. | Autopsy details: not public. |
| The collar, chain and gloves | Found in a bush near the building. | Testing results: not public. |
| DNA | Re-tested around 2010. | The chief said in 2025 that none remains. |
| Witnesses | Key witnesses moved away or died. | Statements: not public. |
Two news reports are the public record.
| Document | Holder | What it shows | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland 19 (2025) | Cleveland 19 / WOIO | Facts and police statements. | Online, free |
| Bedford Heights police file | Bedford Heights Police | The 1984 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.
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 #lesliecross | 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.
What local and national reports say, and when we last checked for a solution.
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.
No suspect has been named. Police have an unnamed person of interest.
Why named: Police say they focused on this person after reviewing the case.
Against: No charge. The person is not named. A person of interest is not an accused person.
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.
The newest public item is the police chief's statement about DNA and leads.
We put the chance that the killer lived in or near the complex at roughly 70%. We put the chance of a charge within five years at roughly 6%, because the DNA is gone.
Editorial judgment, not statistics.
"—" means no public information, not a clean result.
| Person or idea | Near the scene | Physical link | Legal outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Person of interest (unnamed) | ? per police | — none published | — not charged |
| A stranger | ? possible | — | — |
✗ excluded or contradicted · ✓ supports · ? disputed · — nothing public. No cell is an official finding.
Editorial reading of public records. A working theory, not a finding, and it names no individual.
Judgment, not statistics.
Questions raised by gaps in the public record.
Whose they were.
What the dog did that night.
Why police focused on this person.
People who left soon after.
Cause and timing.
What was tested in 2010.
"Not public" means we could not find a report.
| Item | Tested | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| DNA | Re-tested about 2010. | None remains, per the chief. |
| Gloves and collar | Collected. | Whether tested: not public. |
| Police file | Bedford Heights Police. | Public index: not available. |
| 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 |
Local cases that moved after decades.
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.
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.
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.
| Claim | Source and date | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| The Ohio Attorney General page for "Cross" | Search results | That entry is Geneice Cross in Columbus, a different victim. |
| A reward is offered | A 2009 offer | A Crime Stoppers official offered up to $25,000 of his own money about 2009; we could not confirm it still stands. |
She was found in the Sherwood Village Apartments on Libby Road in Bedford Heights, southeast of Cleveland.
Open in maps: Libby Road, Bedford Heights. We show no photograph of the scene.
| Source | Type | Rating | Use with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland 19, Oct 31, 2025 | Local news | B+ | The most detailed source; quotes the police chief. |
| News 5 Cleveland | Local news | B | Seen in search results; not fully opened. |
Lead agency. 440-439-1234 (Cleveland 19, 2025); a news summary listed 440-786-3259; please confirm before calling.
Partnered earlier.
Charging decisions.
Under the Ohio Public Records Act, I request copies of non-exempt records relating to the October 29, 1984 homicide of Leslie Cross at the Sherwood Village Apartments in Bedford 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.
Leslie was 14. Her mother, Pat Cross, has kept asking.
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Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where they disagree, we say so above.
The two phone numbers differ between sources. The 2009 reward offer is from a search summary and unconfirmed. We found no AG listing for this victim; the "Cross" entry we saw is a different person.