Remembering Jodi Auble

 

A Night Out With Friends Goes Horribly Wrong

17-year-old Jodi Auble was looking forward to a bright future. Jodi, a popular high school senior, was a good student, active in her church, and very involved in extracurricular activities at school. She was a cheerleader, the president of the concert band, and was a member of both the Girls’ Athletic Association and the girls’ track team. School principal Rockie Larissa described Jodi as, “one of those girls you’d like to have a whole school full of. She never antagonized anybody.” Jodi was a hard worker and spent her last two years of high school working part time as a cashier at a local grocery store. She was looking forward to graduating from high school and pursuing her dream to became a nurse.

On Friday October 4, 1974 Jodi left her job at 9:15 PM. and picked up some of her girlfriends. The girls spent the next several hours hanging posters and signs around the community in anticipation of a high school football game the following night. Jodi dropped off the last of her friends at approximately 12:30 AM on Saturday October 5, 1974. The next day Jodi’s parents awoke to find that their daughter had not returned home. Jodi’s father immediately reported to police that his daughter was missing.

A Brutal Murder Of An Innocent Girl

Shortly after Jodi’s father reported her missing a group of hunters called police and informed them they had found a body in a heavily wooded area with high weeds. Police identified the victim as Jodi Auble.

She had been beaten with a large, heavy tree branch found near her body and she had been run over multiple times by a car. There was large gaping hole in Jodi’s right check and tire marks across her chest. Her hands were clenched and it was evident she fought her attacker. Jodi’s blouse was opened and twisted around in back.

Erie County Coroner Joseph Bruder stated that it appeared Jodi was held from behind as she struck with the branch. Bruder also stated Jodi was hit at least 10 times on the head and was either dead or unconscious when she was run over with the car.

While the coroner found no evidence of sexual assault, Erie County Sheriff Harold Gladwell believed evidence showed sex was the motive for the crime.

Jodi’s car was found a mile away. Her purse with money in it was on the front seat.

A Vicious Killer Gets Life In Prison

Five days later authorities arrested 19-year-old Dennis Dussell. Dussell, a former high school all-star athlete who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 390 pounds, became a suspect after it was reported he had been seen at a car wash at 3:30 AM on the day of Jodi’s murder. The witness told police Dussell was not wearing a shirt or jacket.

Dussell said he was not involved in Jodi’s death however the evidence said differently. Human blood was found on a tire and the undercarriage of Dussell’s car. Tire tracks found near the scene were similar to those made by a tire on Dussell’s vehicle. In addition, a ring similar to the one Dussell was wearing the night before the murder was found near Jodi’s body. Police never found the jacket and shirt Dussell wore the night Jodi was murdered.

Dussell took the stand in his own defense. He denied killing Jodi and claimed the ring that was found was in his jacket that was stolen earlier that night from a nightclub.

Based on the evidence a three-judge panel found Dussell guilty of killing Jodi Auble. He was sentenced from 15 years to life in prison. However that was not the end of Dussell’s crimes.

Multiple Mistakes Equals More Victims

Despite the fact Dennis Dussell brutally murdered Jodi Auble and accepted no responsibility for Jodi’s murder he was paroled in 1984 after serving only nine years of his life sentence.

It did not take long for Dussell to start getting into trouble and continue abusing women. On July 9, 1986 Dussell was identified as the man who assaulted a woman at a Cleveland Ohio Metropolitan Park. Dussell punched the victim knocking her off her bike. He then beat the woman until other people saw what was happening and came to her aid. Dussell got into a car and fled the scene. The victim got the license plate number off the car which led authorities to Dussell. According to the victim Cleveland Metroparks Rangers never contacted her to advise her that she needed to sign a paper to have Dussell arrested. As a result he remained on the streets.

In November 1986 Dussell was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. His parole officer violated state policy and neglected to tell his supervisors about the conviction and Dussell was not returned to prison for violating parole. The same parole officer was later fired for accepting a bribe from a parolee to remain free.

In 1989 Dussell was charged with sexual abusing his three-year-old daughter. Dussell, who was well experienced working the justice system, had his daughter ruled incompetent to stand trial due to her young age. Dussell was acquitted on charges of felonious sexual penetration and gross sexual imposition.

After Dussell’s arrest for the assault of his daughter, authorities found Dussell’s 1986 assault conviction and reported it The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. Dussell’s parole was revoked and he was sent back to prison. Once again Dussell found a way to manipulate the justice system. He contested his parole revocation due to the fact three years had passed since the assault. A judge agreed and Dussell was put back on the streets.

After being paroled a second time Dussell immediately went back to stalking women. On the night of October 5, 1990 Dussell kidnapped a woman in a parking lot. He put a sharp object to her throat and ordered her into his van. Dussell drove around and forced the woman to undress and perform oral sex on him as he fondled her. Dussell then pulled into an alley, forced the woman into the back of the van, and raped her. When he was done raping the woman Dussell told his victim she was “too nice of a girl for this”, allowed her to get dressed, and drove the woman back to her car. Before she left the van Dussell asked the victim if she had a good time and could they do it again. The victim went to the hospital and identified Dussell as the man who raped her from photos given to her by police. The photo of Dussell was given to police by the Park Rangers after the 1986 attack in the park.

Since Dussell resembled the perpetrator in other crimes Lakewood Ohio police began showing his picture to other sexual assault victims.

A victim who was attacked in December 1987 identified Dussell as the man who kidnapped her from a bus stop and raped her in the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Ohio Metroparks.

Another victim who was attacked in 1985 identified Dussell as the man who punched her in the face while she was walking down the street and attempt to drag her toward bushes in a back yard. She escaped with a bloody nose after people saw the attack and came to her aid.

A Paroled Murderer Gets An Additional 65-90 years

Dussell was indicted on 24 counts for his assault on the three women which included 12 counts of rape and five counts of gross sexual imposition, and one count of abduction. Due to the time that has passed Prosecutor’s dropped the abduction charge in the 1985 attack. The other two cases went to trial.

The first trial was for the 1990 parking lot abduction. The victim provided detailed and emotional testimony about the ordeal Dussell put her though. She clearly described Dussell’s van, the clothes he was wearing, and what he had done to her. After her testimony she collapsed, sobbing into her father’s arms.

Another witness told the jury that Dussell tried to bribe him by offering to pay the man’s mortgage if he could find someone to say they had seen Dussell with the victim prior to the attack in an effort to prove the sex was consensual. The man said he told Dussell he could not lie for him as the case was too high profile to get involved.

It took the jurors only 90 minutes to find Dussell guilty on all 12 counts (six counts of rape, two counts each of felonious sexual penetration and gross sexual imposition, one count of felonious assault and one count of kidnapping. Dussell grimaced as the verdict was read however other than that he showed zero emotion.

A jury acquitted Dussell of the charges in the 1987 bus stop attack due to issues that developed between Dussell’s appearance at the trial and the pictures that were taken of him three years earlier when he committed the crime. The judge did find Dussell guilty of possessing a weapon after having been convicted of a felony.

Dussell also pled guilty to one count of assault for the Cleveland Metroparks attack that occurred in 1996.

Dussell was sentenced to 65-90 years for his crimes to be served in addition to his murder sentence.

Since his imprisonment Dussell has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to get out of rehabilitation programs and to obtain parole. He has never taken responsibility or shown remorse for any of his crimes.