The Mysterious Death of Kurt Sova UPDATE

Episode 001 - The Mysterious Death of Kurt Sova

Episode 040 - The Mysterious Death of Kurt Sova REVISITED

In the first episode of Trace Evidence I examined the death of Kurt Sova, a seventeen year old who disappeared for five days and then was found deceased in a ravine in Newburgh Heights, Ohio.  I revisited Kurt’s case in Episode 40, including much more information which I hadn’t discovered during the research for episode 1.

On Friday, October 23rd, 1981, Kurt skipped his day at school and later in the night attended a party with a friend.  The party was held in a duplex and many of the attendees were strangers to Kurt, and older as well.

According to Kurt’s friend, Kurt had been drinking heavily and wasn’t feeling well so he took him outside to get some fresh air.  Kurt’s friend went back into the duplex to get their coats and, when he returned, Kurt was gone.

Five days later, Kurt’s body was found in a ravine just 500 feet from the location of the party, but Kurt’s father had searched that area days earlier and there had been no sign of his son.

Strangely, when Kurt was examined, his cause of death was listed as “instantaneous physiological death.”  There was still alcohol in his system and, even more strangely, it was determined he had been dead between 24 and 36 hours.  If that is true, the question remains:  where was Kurt for the other three and a half to four days that he had been missing?

For the rest of their lives Kurt’s parents fought to find the truth.  They alleged they had been threatened and told to stop asking questions.  However, both passed away and now, nearly 40 years later, the truth of what happened to Kurt remains unsolved.

CASE UPDATE

In late 2019 local media reported that the Newburgh Heights Police Department’s Cold Case Unit were partnering with Tiffin University students to re-examine the case and, hopefully, shine new light on the mystery which haunts his family to this day.

Kurt’s brother, Kevin, told reporters at a press conference “He was just a great kid; he had many friends.  We just want to know the truth about what happened to my brother.”

Due to a lack of evidence, Kurt’s case has never been listed as a homicide.  However, Police Chief John Majoy is determined to get to the truth.  There was no evidence of physical trauma and so Kurt’s death is being investigated as a suspicious death.

Around this same time, CrimeCon announced that in February of this year they would hold a CrowdSolve event in which experts would speak to attendees about the case, present them with evidence and then the attendees would help examine the case in hopes of determining what happened.

While there have been no major updates to Kurt’s case, digging back into the case is just beginning.  Many witnesses and people who knew Kurt have since forgotten details and, over forty years, it’s become difficult to figure out exactly what happened.  However, there is hope, that Kurt’s case is now receiving more attention and after all this time someone may be ready to talk.