UT Police Officer Arrested,
Booked For Murder Of Student

Published in The Collegian on February 3, 1992.
By Jacquelyn Masas, Collegain Managing Editor.

Five days after the frozen body of UT student Melissa Herstrum was found on January 27, police arrested a man they believe to be her killer.

Jeffrey Hodge, a first-year UT police officer, was charged, arrested and booked Saturday for the aggravated murder of Herstrum.

Hodge, 22, was arrested Saturday at 6 a.m. at his home. Herstrum, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, was shot 14 times with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the head, back, trunk and legs on the Scott Park Campus.

Herstrum was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and a native of Rocky River, Ohio, a western suburb of Cleveland.

At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Frank Pizzulo, Ut's department of public safety director, did not release any apparant motive for the murder.

Curt Posner, chief assistant prosecutor said the death penalty will be sought when the grand jury hears its case. Hodge will be arraigned at Toledo Municipal Court today at 9 a.m.

According to Toledo Police, Hodge is being watched throughout the day to keep him from hurting himself. Hodge has refused to speak to anyone about the charges.

UT Police and Toledo Police in a joint investigation allege that Herstrum and Hodge did not know each other and that they met in a chance encounter early in the morning of Jaunary 26.

According to Toledo Police, Herstrum left her College Station apartment at 1 a.m. for an unknown destination when she offered her nursing services at a traffic accident on Secor Road.

Hodge was one of the officers at the accident. Police could not determine if they spoke to one another at that time. Herstrum then returned to her apartment . After receiving telephone calls from acquaintances, Herstrum left the apartment around 3:53 a.m.

The specific events after that are unknown. UT police received a telephone call January 27 at 12:20 a.m. from the Checker Cab Company stating that a woman called the cab company to inform them that one of their cabs in Lot 23 at the Scott Park Campus was being robbed and the woman heard shots fired about 15 seconds later.

According to UT police reports, Hodge and Officer Jeffrey Gasiorowski arrived at the campus and did not see anything suspicious, but decided to conduct a foot search of the wooded area and buildings.

As Gasiorowski walked around the southwest corner of the Engineering Technology Laboratory Center, he found Herstrum's body at 12:40 a.m.

Toledo police and fire divisions, Lucas County Medical Services and the Lucas County coroner were notified.

According to the report Hodge wrote, "The victim was apparently shot several times throughout her body, we are awaiting the result of the autopsy for exact details.

"Toledo Police and University Police are investigating the indident, and at this time we have no suspects or witnesses."

According to the coroner's report, Herstrum had been dead from 18 to 20 hours. There were no signs of abuse or rape, and no drugs or alcohol were found in Herstrum's body.

Captain Thomas Gulch of Toledo Police said at the press conference that the shot to Herstrum's head had been made at a closer range than those to the rest of her body.

Herstrum's car was found in Lot 20-E, a mile away from the Scott Park Campus. Her purse and gloves were in the front seat, but her driver's license, student identification, keys and coat were missing.

Her keys were found in a trash bin near the murder scene, while her coat and identification were located along Westwood Avenue.

The missing driver's license indicated that Herstrum might have been stopped by a police officer, since such identification is asked for during a routine stop.

Abrasions around the wrists fitting the marks made by handcuffs were also determined by the coroner.

After Toledo Police subpoenaed Ohio Bell's telephone records to locate the origin of the call made to the cab company, they determined that the call came from a pay phone inside a building at the Scott Park Campus.

UT Police were the only people who had access to the building at the time the call was made. Gulch said they believe Hodge was impersonating the voice of a woman.

Four search warrants were issued for Hodge's home, two vehicles parked on his lot and his locker at the UT Police department. The 9 mm semiautomatic pistol was not found.

Ballistics tests on the shell casings from the murder scene and the shooting at MacKinnon Hall January 20 show that the shells are similar enough to have come from the same gun.

In the dormitory incident, six shots were fired at 4:30 a.m. at the southeast corner of the residence hall. Two of the shots barely missed a student sleeping in a first-floor room.

Hodge was also on duty at the time of the shooting and arrived at the scene 40 seconds after it occurred. Police say Hodge has not been charged with the MacKinnon shooting.

Hodge was hired by UT Police in March 1991. He is a 1987 graduate of Lake High School, and attended UT's College of Business Administration for three years.

He was hired as a UT dispatcher in September 1989.

He also worked at Lucas County 9-1-1 as an operator from July 1990 to March 1991.

Pizzulo said, "He had a number of close friends (at the UT Police station). They are all befuddled."

Hodge, an accredited peace officer and a graduate of the Basic Police Academy, was married in November and earned $19,300 per year.

 Return to University of Toledo police corruption.