Slain Student's Family Keeps Memory Strong

Published in Cleveland Plain Dealer on January 26, 2002.
By Kaye Spector, Plain Dealer Reporter.

Ten years ago, the questions started.

Why was their daughter killed?

Melissa Anne Herstrum's parents and sister are still seeking answers.

Ten years ago today the 19-year-old University of Toledo nursing student was shot 14 times by a man who said he didn't know why he did it.

"I kind of have resolved myself to the fact that I will never understand why," said her sister, Cindy Herstrum Clark. "There is no reason why anyone would do this kind of thing to my sister."

Today, on the 10th anniversary of her death, the family of the Rocky River woman looks back.

But they also are planning for the future.

In 20 years, Melissa Anne's confessed killer will be eligible for parole.

When that day arrives, Herstrum's parents, Alan and Diane, and her sister want to confront Melissa's murderer again.

Herstrum's family says they will mark Melissa's death this year by starting an effort to change Ohio law.

The law bars crime victims from attending state parole board hearings.

"I want her to be remembered," Diane Herstrum said.

"And I want something positive to happen not only for me, but for other families who are victims of crime."

Crime victims can make their feelings known to the state Parole Board through its Office of Victims Services, said spokeswoman Melody Lewis.

But "that's not the same as being there at the parole hearing face-to-face," Clark said. "It seems crazy to me that we don't have that right."

What also doesn't make sense to the Herstrums is that their daughter is gone.

In 1993, University of Toledo police officer Jeffrey Hodge, then 22, was arrested five days after Herstrum's body was found behind a building at the university's Scott Park Campus.

She was partially clothed and had been shot 14 times.

Hodge pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated murder and kidnapping in Herstrum's death. For the plea, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

At his sentencing, Hodge said he did not know why he killed Herstrum. He said he followed her as she drove into a campus lot Jan. 26, 1992, and stopped her "to see if she had been drinking."

She had not, according to the coroner's report, but Hodge ordered Herstrum into his car after she could not produce identification.

He drove Herstrum to her apartment, then took her to a deserted campus lot, handcuffed her and shot her.

Today, Hodge is serving his life sentence at Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon. He will be eligible for parole in 2022.

"I don't want him to ever be free," Clark said.

Ohio law changed in 1996 to allow life sentences without parole, something Diane Herstrum said is "a very good start."

The murder generated much publicity, but the family never spoke publicly until Hodge's sentencing.

"To be able to be there, to make an impact statement, took a lot out of us," said Clark, who now lives in St. Paul, Minn., with her husband and two young boys. "But it was important to do."

In 1997, the family settled a $10 million lawsuit against the university for $1 million.

They claimed the school was negligent in training and supervising Hodge.

He was fired a month after Herstrum's killing for departmental violations, including inventing a break-in, calling a suspect at home and phoning bomb threats.

In 1998, the family won a $20 million judgment against Hodge, guaranteeing he won't make any money from her death by writing a book.

The family has fought for her in court, but in the years since Herstrum's death, they have noted Jan. 26 quietly.

Her mother and father spend the day with family or friends. Flowers appear at the altar of Rocky River United Methodist Church.

And they still weep when talking about her death.

"Everything changes," Diane Herstrum said. "It impacts every part of your life.

Return to University of Toledo police corruption.