Remembering Karen Reeves

 

A Young Girl Goes Missing

It was a typical babysitting job for 12-year-old Karen Reeves when she headed next door to her neighbor’s house on Tuesday, July 18th, 1978. Karen’s big sister, Terry, who normally babysat for the Stevens family, had fallen ill, so little sister Karen volunteered to help out. Karen’s family would never see her alive again.

The next morning, Karen’s mother realized Karen had not returned home from babysitting and reported her missing to police. Family, friends and the community searched for Karen, however no one was able to obtain any information regarding her whereabouts. Karen’s body would be found five days later when Michael Ray Stevens, who hired Karen to babysit for his children, confessed to a priest in Minneapolis his horrific crimes.

Outside of a church confessional, Stevens told Rev. Allen Moss that he had raped and stabbed a girl before arriving in Minneapolis. Rev. Moss encouraged Stevens to cooperate with authorities regarding the crime, and Stevens agreed to allow Moss to contact the Minneapolis police. Columbus, Ohio police were contacted and, based on information provided by Stevens, they found Karen’s severely decomposed body in some tall weeds near a local park.

Unexplained Violence

Michael Ray Stevens was initially questioned by police the morning after Karen disappeared. He informed them that she was gone when he woke up that morning. Stevens then left the house claiming he wanted to help search for Karen. He never returned home and his wife reported him missing the following day.

When Minneapolis Police arrested Stevens, he had a much different story to tell. Stevens claimed that his wife was ill and he had to get up for work at 6AM the next morning, so he hired Karen to babysit. He then confessed that he took Karen to a secluded area along Big Walnut Creek, where raped her, stabbed her with a paring knife and, after the blade broke, continued stabbing her with a screwdriver. He claimed Karen had promised him that she would not tell police about the sexual assault before he murdered her. The autopsy report also indicates Karen was strangled. Stevens told police that, after committing the crime, he had quit his job, sold his truck and gotten on a plane to Milwaukee, eventually arriving there in Minneapolis. However, police confirmed that Stevens had actually quit his job the day that Karen went missing without informing his wife.

A Life Sentence for a Vicious Crime

Once returned to Ohio by police, Stevens was charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape. Stevens initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, but eventually pled guilty to the aggravated murder. In exchange for his plea, the kidnapping and rape charges were dropped. Stevens was sentenced to life in prison and likely avoided a possible death sentence due to the fact the death penalty was not an option at the time of the crime.

Since his sentencing, there is zero evidence that Stevens has shown remorse for his crimes. In 1993, the Ohio Parole Board records state “no remorse exhibited by defendant” and nothing in the records indicates anything has changed in the last 25 years. In 2009, the last time Stevens was up for parole, his institutional programming was “fair” and the records state “there is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate would create an undue risk to public safety or that, due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate would not further the interest of justice or be consistent with the welfare and security of society.” The brutality of his crime and the young age of his victim have kept Stevens from getting out on parole since his initial imprisonment. In April of 2002, the court adjudicated Stevens a sexual predator, the most dangerous of all sex offender classifications.