EXIT 9 Investigations: Series 1 – Kurt Sova:(The Mystery in Newburgh Heights)

The case first gained traction on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries: Season 1 – Episode 9 entitled “Halloween Party Death.”

EXIT 9 has assembled all evidence in this case file from eyewitnesses, written sources (which we have provided links to), and have utilized our research along with Unsolved Mysteries and The Plain Dealer Newspaper to conduct this investigation.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1981

On the misty Friday night of October 23rd, 1981, a 17-year-old went missing in the small town of Newburgh Heights, Ohio. What happened next is a complete mystery composed of eyewitness accounts, theories, and a botched investigation by a corrupt detective.

Kurt Sova didn’t attend school on this particular Friday; he persuaded a patron at a local liquor store to buy him a bottle of Everclear and headed to his girlfriend’s house. Later that night he attended a party that was taking place a few blocks from his home, his friend Samuel C. Carroll tagged along. This party was at Harvard Ave in a duplex shared by Debbie Sams, her brother Clayton, and a female roommate named Misi.

(*Debbie is referred to as Susan in the Unsolved Mysteries episode due to legal reasons during the time of its broadcast).

The crowd at the party were a couple of years older than Kurt and Samuel. Kurt allegedly became disruptive while consuming alcohol and/or drugs, and this caused him to fall ill and start vomiting.

Samuel stated that he accompanied Kurt outside for 20-30 minutes. Kurt sported a yellow t-shirt, Samuel also only had on a t-shirt. The temperature was a chilly 56 degrees, this tempted Samuel to go back into the house to grab their jackets. Kurt rested against the chain-link fence. After a brief trip inside (2 or 3 minutes), Samuel arrived back to the scenario of a missing Kurt.

He searched the nearby streets and a parking lot connected to J.L. Goodman Furniture Inc. warehouse, (this location not being far from the spot where Kurt was eventually found). After no luck in locating Kurt, he assumed Kurt had walked home; Samuel went back to the party.

Samuel Carroll’s statement: “I can only guess that someone he knew picked him up because it happened that fast. Someone had to pick him up in a car.”

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24/25, 1981

The next day (Saturday) Dorothy and Ken Sova (Kurt’s parents) became worried and started to roam the streets looking for his whereabouts. They searched the ravines, alleyways, dumpsters, the local haunted house attraction and had no luck. On Sunday, Kurt was officially registered as a missing person; Dorothy also overheard rumors that there was a party that Kurt had socialized at. Dorothy went to the duplex and was received by Misi, Debbie nor Clayton was present. Misi denied any knowledge of a party and claimed to not have seen Kurt that night.

A further investigation located a pizza delivery worker who provided an eyewitness statement of the party and Kurt’s attendance. Dorothy and Ken were sure on this information, they went to the house and found Kurt’s jacket. The Sova family was then ordered by the Police Chief James F. Lukas to cease any attempts to visit the house, notifying them that any further progression of their efforts would result in harassment. Missing posters went up around the town, and up to 50+ volunteers participated in the search.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1981

Slavic Village Records, a hip and stylish place that engulfed the essence of the early ’80s. A homeless man who had been hanging around the record store had been a fixture outside for a few weeks, bragging of access to bodies flown into Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. He talked about stealing the shoes from the bodies. On this Monday, he finally came into the store and pointed to a flier of Kurt taped to the window.

The homeless man said to store manager Judy Oros: “They’re going to find him and they’re gonna find him in two days, and they’re not going to know what happened to him.”

TUESDAY, OCTOBER, 27, 1981

Tuesday morning around 3 a.m., Dorothy got a phone call from Debbie that Kurt was sleeping on a cot in the basement of the duplex. Ken Sova kicked in the door but found no Kurt, only an empty cot. The frenzy of false clues and constant defiance from eyewitnesses made the search into a living hell.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1981

Wednesday, around 5:30 p.m., three local kids found the body of Kurt Sova in a ravine near the J.L. Furniture Warehouse, merely 500 yards from Debbie’s Duplex (Ken Sova had searched this very same area 24 hours earlier). His body was positioned in a puddle amongst the trash, face turned to the side, to form a Christ-like crucifixion. Both shoes were missing, his left shoe was eventually found between two rocks — twelve feet away from the body. Kurt’s right foot had a sock on; his left foot didn’t.



(Photo from EXIT 9 reenactment)

Kurt had a bruise on his cheek and numerous bruises on his shins. A few abrasions were found on his flesh. No bullet holes, knife wounds, needle punctures, or internal injuries existed. Lt. Robert Carras from the Newburgh Heights Police Department was assigned the case. The quote below is from his interview with Unsolved Mysteries.

