Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Now The Violence in the Valley podcastwith retired Parkersburg Chief of Police Bob Newell
and others, brought to you byInteresting Insurance three Generations of insurance Excellence.
In the early morning hours of Februarytwenty eighth, nineteen seventy four, one
of the most dangerous cyril rapists tolive in the Middle High Valley broke into
(00:20):
an apartment at Homecrest Manor in SouthParkersburg and raped a woman who had recently
met at a local restaurant. Nearlyfifty years later, Franklin Maywood Romine would
also be connected through DNA to thehigh profile rape and murder of a sixteen
year old girl in Quebec, Canada. We had seen a number of violent
predators during the nineteen seventies. Asrecalled by former prosecuting attorney Harry Ditzler,
(00:44):
we had individuals who were totally differentfrom the pack, but we had we
had quite a series of violent cases. Nineteen seventy four, Romine had recently
been paroled from the West Virginia Penitentiaryin Moundsville and was working at an upholstery
(01:06):
shop in Parkersburg. The victim wasa waitress at Jimbo's restaurant, where Romine
would often stop for lunch. Thetwo struck up her friendship and eventually agreed
to go on a date. However, just after one date, Romine showed
up her apartment in the middle ofthe night while the victim and her young
son were asleep. He broke outa window in the back door and entered
the apartment. The victim was awakenedby the breaking glass and saw him standing
(01:30):
at the bottom of the stairs leadingto her bedroom. When she confronted him,
Romine told her that he wandered herfrom the first time they met,
and he was going to have hereven if he had to kill her.
The commotion also woke up her fouryear old son, who came Alvy's bedroom.
She told him to go back tobed and everything would be okay.
To ensure her child's safety, sheconceded that Romine was going to sexually assault
(01:53):
her and agreed not to resist inexchange for insurances that he would leave and
not harm her or her son.He then hinder to the bed and raped
her. Before leaving, Romine threwdown a twenty dollar bill on the table,
a gesture that would later influence ajury try in his case. After
the predator left, his victim wasafraid to leave her home to borrow a
(02:13):
telephone to call the police, untilshe saw lights come on at a neighboring
apartment. Retired police officer Jerry Lyonsand I were sent to the scene.
The evidence was clear that a burglaryand sexual assault had occurred, and Romine
was eventually arrested by Parkersburg detectives.However, he was soon released on bail
in the amount of only twenty fivehundred dollars using his services of local bondsman
(02:37):
Camden Butcher, a former police officer. It was inexplicable that Romine, who
had a lengthy prison record that includeda previous attempt to escape from Moundsville,
would be allowed bill, especially ona capital fence for which he could receive
a life sentence. He immediately fledthe area and roamed up through the High
Valley and eventually into Quebec, Canada. A year after Romine had failed to
(02:59):
appear for his trial in Parkersburg,one of the most brutal rapes and murders
in Canada's history occurred in long Way, Quebec. Here Is police detective Eric
Rasco in an interview provided by WCHSTelevision of Charleston, West Virginia. So
on Saturday in March tween nine,nineteen seventy five, seven fifteen pm,
(03:21):
Sharon Priory left her Turnity home togo see her friends at the pizza place
called Marina. That restaurant was locatedon these six hundred meters a week.
I think for you guys, it'szero point three miles from her home,
(03:42):
and her friends confirmed to us thatshe never showed up at the restaurant.
Sixteen year old Sharon Pryor had beenkidnapped, raped and murdered. Her body
was found three days later a linein a field in long Way, Quebec,
and this is probably the most famethe school case in the province of
Quebec, and the Canadian police investigatedover one hundred possible suspects and eventually the
(04:06):
case went cold. But Franklin Roeminewouldn't become a suspect as he was virtually
unknown to local residents and because soonafter the murder he was arrested on outstanding
fugitive warrant and extradited back to theUnited States and to Parkersburg, West Virginia
to stand trial for the burglary andrape in Homecrest Manor. Criminal justice procedures
(04:28):
and rules of evidence were different then, allowing the defense to question the character
of the victim. During the trial, Roemind tried to paint the victim as
a consenting sex partner who was cheatingon her current boyfriend. In fact,
she did to admit in her testimonythat she had shown interests in dating the
defendant while she had a steady boyfriend. She also had to admit that her
(04:49):
child was born out of wedlock,which in the nineteen seventies did not usually
play well in front of a jury. While testifying in his own defense,
Roemind told the jury he left thetwenty dollars bill for accidentally breaking the window
while he was merely knocking on theback door. We were able to prove
that the broken window was no accidentand it was a result of a night
(05:11):
time burglary. The jury found himguilty of burglary and capital rape, but
gave him mercy, allowing him thepossibility of pearl After twenty years. Franklin
Romine would become the last person tobe convicted of capital rate in Wood County.
Then in nineteen eighty one that WesterergisSupreme Court overturned his conviction because of
a faulty instructions given to the juryduring deliberations. By then, the entire
(05:35):
statute on sexual assault had changed.Rape was no longer capital of fence,
and there were now varying degrees ofassault and abuse for which one could be
found guilty. Specifically, sexual assaultof an acquaintance, as in the Romine
case, was only a second degreeoffense. To avoid another trial, Romine
pled guilty to second offense sexual assaultand was soon released from Moundsville for time
(05:59):
already serve. He returned to Canadanineteen eighty one and soon met his own
violent death. It is believed byCanadian authorities that organized crime figures had murdered
Romine, but no details were known. His body was returned to West Virginia,
where family members buried him in hishometown cemetery. In the meantime,
police and Quebec never stopped following leadsinto the high profile murder of Sharon Pryor.
(06:25):
A second generation of police officers continuedthe investigation into this and other unsolved
cases. In addition to the DNAfrom Sharon's body. They had also obtained
a description of the suspect from awoman he attempted to abduct a knife point
just minutes before Sharon disappeared again.Here's Detective Sergeant Rasco on the same day
(06:46):
and Wafeet the same time. ASchevon Pryor disappeared took place in the same
area. So around twenty twenty twoyears old woman named Cheryl Roy was the
victim of an event. Being atnine point the suspect Albert in English,
(07:11):
not to scream and to follow in. He also told her when she fights
back, you bitch are coming withme. Missus Ward was able to attract
the attention of others passing by,and the assailant disappeared into an alley.
He continued hunting for a new victim, and soon after spotted sixteen year old
(07:32):
Sharon walking alone near the same areawhere missus Ward was nearly abducted. This
time, the threat of a knifeapparently worked. Sharon was bound with tape
and driven away to an isolated areaof long Way. She was led into
a field where she was raped,beaten, and eventually strangled to death.
According to police, it was aparticularly vicious physical and sexual assault. She
(07:57):
had been restrained with tape and herclothing forced off of her. Her pants
were found several feet away, andher underwear were found hanging it from a
branch in a nearby tree. Shewas severely beaten into face, causing several
fractures, and then strangled with aman's shirt. DNA was found on the
shirt and her clothing. In twentyeighteen, police submitted DNA evidence to be
(08:18):
entered into a genealogy study. TheDNA was traced to the family's name Romine
or Romaine. Further testing narrated theDNA to two brothers living in West Virginia
named Romine, but was not adefinite match. However, there's a third
brother who was dead. His namewas Franklin Maywood. Roman Assistant news director
(08:39):
Ledlie Rubin of WCHS Television and Charles, West Virginia, was the first reporter
to break the news of this coldcase investigation after receiving a tip that an
order had been filed to zoom abody in Putnam County, West Virginia.
Funny story because a friend of afriend had texted me and said, I
(09:00):
have a friend who works over atthe courthouse and came across this really interesting
motion that was filed by the PutnamCounty Prosecutor's office and thought you just might
be interestment in it. And itwas the motion to exhume the body of
Frank Sindrovine. I had never heardof it, never heard about, you
know, I had no idea whatit was about. But I said,
yeah, sure, you know,Senator Rust can look at it. When
(09:22):
I was it was just a coupleof hages that the prosecutor had filed,
you know, the petition to exhumehis body, and I was just reading
it and I was like, ohmy god, this is fascinating. Adding
to the probability that Roman could beresponsible was that he had purchased a used
car from an individual who lived justtwo blocks away from Sharon's house and therefore
(09:43):
would have been familiar with the neighborhood. Again, here is Leslie Ruben.
She was from a neighborhood called PointSaint Charles, which I don't know.
I kind about the neighborhood, butthe way it was kind of described in
some read that I did that itwas kind of a rough neighborhood. I
(10:03):
guess you could say. At thetime, I know that around that time
and just in that area, therewere a lot of sexual assaults and kidnapping,
you know, murders that were happening, so you know, they are
looking into the possibility that he couldbe responsible for any of those. This
(10:24):
new information led to the request toexhume the body of the serial predator and
extract his DNA for testing, butfamily members objected. Even though they readily
gave into the possibility that their deadbrother committed the rape and murdering Canada,
they didn't want the grave site disturbed. One brother shared the fact that while
he was away in the Marine Corpsand away from home, Frankland tried to
(10:45):
rape his wife. Needless to say, the two brothers had a strained relationship.
Thereafter, a hearing was held inPutnam County Circuit Court. The details
were recorded and shared by WCHS Television. During the hearing, Detective Serge Razaco
outlined in great detail the criminal lifeof Roman and the investigative measures that had
continued over the last forty eight years. Putnam County Judge Philip Stower's agreed in
(11:11):
specific terms why he would allow thebody to be zoomed. The court finds
based upon information testified here today andrepresentative Court, as well as the petition
filed here in the probable cause hasbeen established for the purpose of zooming Franklin
Romaning here in West Virginia. TheCourt believes their substantial connection, based upon
(11:33):
the evidence of the officer here thatwould grow more than a mirror probable cause,
would cause the court to believe thatthey have, in fact, very
narrowly before they took such a stepto zoom a body, have meticulously decided
in investigating the murder of Sharon,prior that they've developed the DNA evidence,
(11:54):
They've developed location information, they've developedautomobile information, body and build information relating
to the deceded. And the Courtbelieves that given that that their sufficient calls
here to order that the body bezoomed and that information for DNA purposes that
needs to be retrieved will be permitted. After zooming the body, a piece
(12:18):
of the jawbone and femur were removedfrom the scaltal remains and taken back to
Canada for testing. The DNA extractedfrom the bones with an identical match the
DNA recovered from the body of Sharon. Pryor. Roman was a serial predator
who traveled up to High Valley,through willing Pittsburgh and other points north into
Canada hunting his victims. He wasalways going back and forth from Canada to
(12:43):
the US. He was trained toavoid there and arrest, so he was
always being with us. No longerwith the family of Sharon Pryor or the
law enforcement community have to search forthe monster that had haunted them from near
fifty years. Yes, it's beenan incredible, long and difficult journey.
(13:05):
The solving of Sharon's case will neverbring Sharon back, but knowing that her
killer is no longer on this earthand to not kill anymore brings us to
somewhat of enclosures this long chapter ofour lives. We want to thank Assistant
news director Leslie Ruben and entire staffat WCHS Television for sharing their footage of
(13:30):
Detective Rasco, Judge Stowers, andSharon's family. Please join us on our
next podcast as we continue discussing unusualcases of the Middle High Valley. The
Violence in the Valley podcast has beenbrought to you by Interstate Insurance three Generations
of Insurance Excellence. For even moredetails, get a copy of the book
(13:50):
at Amazon dot com
Now The Violence in the Valley podcastwith retired Parkersburg Chief of Police Bob Newell
and others, brought to you byInteresting Insurance three Generations of insurance Excellence.
In the early morning hours of Februarytwenty eighth, nineteen seventy four, one
of the most dangerous cyril rapists tolive in the Middle High Valley broke into
(00:20):
an apartment at Homecrest Manor in SouthParkersburg and raped a woman who had recently
met at a local restaurant. Nearlyfifty years later, Franklin Maywood Romine would
also be connected through DNA to thehigh profile rape and murder of a sixteen
year old girl in Quebec, Canada. We had seen a number of violent
predators during the nineteen seventies. Asrecalled by former prosecuting attorney Harry Ditzler,
(00:44):
we had individuals who were totally differentfrom the pack, but we had we
had quite a series of violent cases. Nineteen seventy four, Romine had recently
been paroled from the West Virginia Penitentiaryin Moundsville and was working at an upholstery
(01:06):
shop in Parkersburg. The victim wasa waitress at Jimbo's restaurant, where Romine
would often stop for lunch. Thetwo struck up her friendship and eventually agreed
to go on a date. However, just after one date, Romine showed
up her apartment in the middle ofthe night while the victim and her young
son were asleep. He broke outa window in the back door and entered
the apartment. The victim was awakenedby the breaking glass and saw him standing
(01:30):
at the bottom of the stairs leadingto her bedroom. When she confronted him,
Romine told her that he wandered herfrom the first time they met,
and he was going to have hereven if he had to kill her.
The commotion also woke up her fouryear old son, who came Alvy's bedroom.
She told him to go back tobed and everything would be okay.
To ensure her child's safety, sheconceded that Romine was going to sexually assault
(01:53):
her and agreed not to resist inexchange for insurances that he would leave and
not harm her or her son.He then hinder to the bed and raped
her. Before leaving, Romine threwdown a twenty dollar bill on the table,
a gesture that would later influence ajury try in his case. After
the predator left, his victim wasafraid to leave her home to borrow a
(02:13):
telephone to call the police, untilshe saw lights come on at a neighboring
apartment. Retired police officer Jerry Lyonsand I were sent to the scene.
The evidence was clear that a burglaryand sexual assault had occurred, and Romine
was eventually arrested by Parkersburg detectives.However, he was soon released on bail
in the amount of only twenty fivehundred dollars using his services of local bondsman
(02:37):
Camden Butcher, a former police officer. It was inexplicable that Romine, who
had a lengthy prison record that includeda previous attempt to escape from Moundsville,
would be allowed bill, especially ona capital fence for which he could receive
a life sentence. He immediately fledthe area and roamed up through the High
Valley and eventually into Quebec, Canada. A year after Romine had failed to
(02:59):
appear for his trial in Parkersburg,one of the most brutal rapes and murders
in Canada's history occurred in long Way, Quebec. Here Is police detective Eric
Rasco in an interview provided by WCHSTelevision of Charleston, West Virginia. So
on Saturday in March tween nine,nineteen seventy five, seven fifteen pm,
(03:21):
Sharon Priory left her Turnity home togo see her friends at the pizza place
called Marina. That restaurant was locatedon these six hundred meters a week.
I think for you guys, it'szero point three miles from her home,
(03:42):
and her friends confirmed to us thatshe never showed up at the restaurant.
Sixteen year old Sharon Pryor had beenkidnapped, raped and murdered. Her body
was found three days later a linein a field in long Way, Quebec,
and this is probably the most famethe school case in the province of
Quebec, and the Canadian police investigatedover one hundred possible suspects and eventually the
(04:06):
case went cold. But Franklin Roeminewouldn't become a suspect as he was virtually
unknown to local residents and because soonafter the murder he was arrested on outstanding
fugitive warrant and extradited back to theUnited States and to Parkersburg, West Virginia
to stand trial for the burglary andrape in Homecrest Manor. Criminal justice procedures
(04:28):
and rules of evidence were different then, allowing the defense to question the character
of the victim. During the trial, Roemind tried to paint the victim as
a consenting sex partner who was cheatingon her current boyfriend. In fact,
she did to admit in her testimonythat she had shown interests in dating the
defendant while she had a steady boyfriend. She also had to admit that her
(04:49):
child was born out of wedlock,which in the nineteen seventies did not usually
play well in front of a jury. While testifying in his own defense,
Roemind told the jury he left thetwenty dollars bill for accidentally breaking the window
while he was merely knocking on theback door. We were able to prove
that the broken window was no accidentand it was a result of a night
(05:11):
time burglary. The jury found himguilty of burglary and capital rape, but
gave him mercy, allowing him thepossibility of pearl After twenty years. Franklin
Romine would become the last person tobe convicted of capital rate in Wood County.
Then in nineteen eighty one that WesterergisSupreme Court overturned his conviction because of
a faulty instructions given to the juryduring deliberations. By then, the entire
(05:35):
statute on sexual assault had changed.Rape was no longer capital of fence,
and there were now varying degrees ofassault and abuse for which one could be
found guilty. Specifically, sexual assaultof an acquaintance, as in the Romine
case, was only a second degreeoffense. To avoid another trial, Romine
pled guilty to second offense sexual assaultand was soon released from Moundsville for time
(05:59):
already serve. He returned to Canadanineteen eighty one and soon met his own
violent death. It is believed byCanadian authorities that organized crime figures had murdered
Romine, but no details were known. His body was returned to West Virginia,
where family members buried him in hishometown cemetery. In the meantime,
police and Quebec never stopped following leadsinto the high profile murder of Sharon Pryor.
(06:25):
A second generation of police officers continuedthe investigation into this and other unsolved
cases. In addition to the DNAfrom Sharon's body. They had also obtained
a description of the suspect from awoman he attempted to abduct a knife point
just minutes before Sharon disappeared again.Here's Detective Sergeant Rasco on the same day
(06:46):
and Wafeet the same time. ASchevon Pryor disappeared took place in the same
area. So around twenty twenty twoyears old woman named Cheryl Roy was the
victim of an event. Being atnine point the suspect Albert in English,
(07:11):
not to scream and to follow in. He also told her when she fights
back, you bitch are coming withme. Missus Ward was able to attract
the attention of others passing by,and the assailant disappeared into an alley.
He continued hunting for a new victim, and soon after spotted sixteen year old
(07:32):
Sharon walking alone near the same areawhere missus Ward was nearly abducted. This
time, the threat of a knifeapparently worked. Sharon was bound with tape
and driven away to an isolated areaof long Way. She was led into
a field where she was raped,beaten, and eventually strangled to death.
According to police, it was aparticularly vicious physical and sexual assault. She
(07:57):
had been restrained with tape and herclothing forced off of her. Her pants
were found several feet away, andher underwear were found hanging it from a
branch in a nearby tree. Shewas severely beaten into face, causing several
fractures, and then strangled with aman's shirt. DNA was found on the
shirt and her clothing. In twentyeighteen, police submitted DNA evidence to be
(08:18):
entered into a genealogy study. TheDNA was traced to the family's name Romine
or Romaine. Further testing narrated theDNA to two brothers living in West Virginia
named Romine, but was not adefinite match. However, there's a third
brother who was dead. His namewas Franklin Maywood. Roman Assistant news director
(08:39):
Ledlie Rubin of WCHS Television and Charles, West Virginia, was the first reporter
to break the news of this coldcase investigation after receiving a tip that an
order had been filed to zoom abody in Putnam County, West Virginia.
Funny story because a friend of afriend had texted me and said, I
(09:00):
have a friend who works over atthe courthouse and came across this really interesting
motion that was filed by the PutnamCounty Prosecutor's office and thought you just might
be interestment in it. And itwas the motion to exhume the body of
Frank Sindrovine. I had never heardof it, never heard about, you
know, I had no idea whatit was about. But I said,
yeah, sure, you know,Senator Rust can look at it. When
(09:22):
I was it was just a coupleof hages that the prosecutor had filed,
you know, the petition to exhumehis body, and I was just reading
it and I was like, ohmy god, this is fascinating. Adding
to the probability that Roman could beresponsible was that he had purchased a used
car from an individual who lived justtwo blocks away from Sharon's house and therefore
(09:43):
would have been familiar with the neighborhood. Again, here is Leslie Ruben.
She was from a neighborhood called PointSaint Charles, which I don't know.
I kind about the neighborhood, butthe way it was kind of described in
some read that I did that itwas kind of a rough neighborhood. I
(10:03):
guess you could say. At thetime, I know that around that time
and just in that area, therewere a lot of sexual assaults and kidnapping,
you know, murders that were happening, so you know, they are
looking into the possibility that he couldbe responsible for any of those. This
(10:24):
new information led to the request toexhume the body of the serial predator and
extract his DNA for testing, butfamily members objected. Even though they readily
gave into the possibility that their deadbrother committed the rape and murdering Canada,
they didn't want the grave site disturbed. One brother shared the fact that while
he was away in the Marine Corpsand away from home, Frankland tried to
(10:45):
rape his wife. Needless to say, the two brothers had a strained relationship.
Thereafter, a hearing was held inPutnam County Circuit Court. The details
were recorded and shared by WCHS Television. During the hearing, Detective Serge Razaco
outlined in great detail the criminal lifeof Roman and the investigative measures that had
continued over the last forty eight years. Putnam County Judge Philip Stower's agreed in
(11:11):
specific terms why he would allow thebody to be zoomed. The court finds
based upon information testified here today andrepresentative Court, as well as the petition
filed here in the probable cause hasbeen established for the purpose of zooming Franklin
Romaning here in West Virginia. TheCourt believes their substantial connection, based upon
(11:33):
the evidence of the officer here thatwould grow more than a mirror probable cause,
would cause the court to believe thatthey have, in fact, very
narrowly before they took such a stepto zoom a body, have meticulously decided
in investigating the murder of Sharon,prior that they've developed the DNA evidence,
(11:54):
They've developed location information, they've developedautomobile information, body and build information relating
to the deceded. And the Courtbelieves that given that that their sufficient calls
here to order that the body bezoomed and that information for DNA purposes that
needs to be retrieved will be permitted. After zooming the body, a piece
(12:18):
of the jawbone and femur were removedfrom the scaltal remains and taken back to
Canada for testing. The DNA extractedfrom the bones with an identical match the
DNA recovered from the body of Sharon. Pryor. Roman was a serial predator
who traveled up to High Valley,through willing Pittsburgh and other points north into
Canada hunting his victims. He wasalways going back and forth from Canada to
(12:43):
the US. He was trained toavoid there and arrest, so he was
always being with us. No longerwith the family of Sharon Pryor or the
law enforcement community have to search forthe monster that had haunted them from near
fifty years. Yes, it's beenan incredible, long and difficult journey.
(13:05):
The solving of Sharon's case will neverbring Sharon back, but knowing that her
killer is no longer on this earthand to not kill anymore brings us to
somewhat of enclosures this long chapter ofour lives. We want to thank Assistant
news director Leslie Ruben and entire staffat WCHS Television for sharing their footage of
(13:30):
Detective Rasco, Judge Stowers, andSharon's family. Please join us on our
next podcast as we continue discussing unusualcases of the Middle High Valley. The
Violence in the Valley podcast has beenbrought to you by Interstate Insurance three Generations
of Insurance Excellence. For even moredetails, get a copy of the book
(13:50):
at Amazon dot com
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