Toledo Killer Spared So Kin Can Be Sure Published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter on May 7, 1993 By Michael K. Mcintyre, Plain Dealer Reporter
Melissa Anne Herstrum's family heard what they needed to hear, then said what they needed to say yesterday as the Rocky River woman's murderer confessed in a Toledo courtroom.
Jeffrey Michael Hodge, 24, a former University of Toledo policeman, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Hodge was arrested Feb. 1, 1992, five days after Herstrum, a 19-year-old nursing student, was found behind a building at the university's Scott Park Campus. She was partially clothed and had been shot 14 times.
Hodge was sentenced to life in prison after his plea and is not eligible for parole for at least 33 years. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for the plea.
"You do not deserve to live," Alan Herstrum, Melissa's father, told Hodge. "We agreed to this negotiated plea because it is important for us to know that it is you who really are the killer and to hear you publicly confess that you are the kidnapper and murderer."
Hodge said he did not know why he killed Herstrum. He said he followed her as she drove into a campus parking lot Jan. 26, 1992, and stopped her "to see if she had been drinking." Lucas County coroner James R. Patrick has said there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in Herstrum's body. Friends say she was last seen about 4 a.m. Jan. 26.
Hodge said that when he stopped Herstrum, she did not have her identification with her, so he drove her to her apartment to get it.
"She came back down and we proceeded back to the parking lot where we had left from. I came to turn towards (her) car. I went blank and I turned the other way and we proceeded to the Scott Park Campus at which time I handcuffed the victim and I shot her," Hodge said.
Asked by Judge Judith Lanzinger why he would do such a thing, Hodge was at a loss.
"I don't know. There's no reason," he said, his reedy voice cracking. He said he could not remember what happened.
Herstrum's body was found at 12:20 a.m. Jan. 27.
After his confession, Herstrum's family - her older sister Cindy, her mother, Diane, and her father - told Hodge how they felt.
"And why? Not because of an unfortunate fate, a disease or a terrible accident. But for ... a senseless, coldblooded murder," her sister said.
Her mother said she had been robbed of Melissa's laughter, her radiant smile and her warm hugs. Mother's Day, she said, will be a day of sadness and pain, just like every other holiday since Melissa's death. She said she cries every day.
"Instead of seeing her receive a college diploma, I will be watching her friends graduate without her. When I should have been dreaming of how we would choose her wedding dress ... I was living the immediate nightmare of choosing a burial site and a casket," Diane Herstrum said.
Alan Herstrum said his family wasn't the only family affected. He reminded Hodge of what "chaos" he caused in the lives of his own parents and wife.
"With your confession, their grief now only begins," he said. His wife, Grethe, a former UT exchange student from Norway, cried uncontrollably as she left the courtroom with Hodge's parents, grandparents and friends.
"It is beyond our understanting how this tragedy could have hap pened. Because the Jeffrey Hodge that is known and loved by his family and friends is a non-violent person incapable of committing such a crime," said Hodge's mother, Pam, in a statement read by his lawyer, Alan Konop. "With God's help, perhaps both families can begin the healing process."
Herstrum's family, in a statement after the sentencing, said they hoped the murder would prompt colleges and universities to screen police applicants carefully and supervise them.
"It is devastating to think that you were entrusted to protect, but instead became the vicious aggressive killer that you are," Alan Herstrum said.
"We trust in the legal system, that the courts will see that you are incarcerated in Lucasville and that you will never again set foot as a free man."
Lucas County Prosecutor Anthony G. Pizza said Hodge deserves to die for his crime, but said it would have been difficult to get the death penalty. He said the state would have had to prove both the aggravated murder and kidnapping charge to get the death penalty.
"Under Ohio law, you can't get the death penalty just for killing somebody and we had very scant evidence on the kidnapping," Pizza said.
In fact, said Chief Assistant Prosecutor Curt Posner, the entire case was based on circumstancial evidence.
"We took the certainty and got the maximum penalty we could," Pizza said.
Circumstancial evidence against Hodge included DNA testing of a tissue sample found on his uniform jacket and hair fibers consistent with Herstrum's that were found in his cruiser.
His 9mm semiautomatic pistol, the same make and model that was used to kill Herstrum, was missing. His handcuffs had "a smear of lead and copper" consistent with a bullet found under Herstrum's body.
Judge Lanzinger told Hodge she wanted him to remember Herstrum every day of his life.
"We can all understand your motivation today. Because in entering this plea, you're saving your own life," she said. "What no one can understand is why you couldn't spare Melissa."
Plain Dealer reporter Michael O'Malley contributed to this article.
GRAPHIC: AP; Jeffrey Hodge, right, a former University of Toledo policeman, talks to his lawyer, Alan Konop, before being sentenced to life in prison for the 1992 slaying of Melissa Anne Herstrum, 19, of Rocky River on the University of Toledo campus.
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