"THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT"

THE QUOTATION, "THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT," IS ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE SANTAYANA, FOUND IN HIS REASON IN COMMON SENSE, THE LIFE OF REASON, VOL. 1. 

THERE APPEARS TO BE SOME RATIONAL BELIEF IN THIS ADAGE TO THE EXTENT THAT MANY PEOPLE CONSIDER TI TO BE A TRUISM AND APPLICABLE TO THE MURDER OF LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE BRYON MACRON.

THE BLOGGER RECENTLY CAME UPON AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY THE MEDINA GASSETTE, WRITTEN BY CUB REPORTER NICK GRUNT  BEFORE HE MOVED ON TO GREENER PASTURES (AN AKRON BEACON JOURNAL PAPER ROUTE IN AKRON'S NORTH HILL NEIGHBORHOOD) THAT SHOULD RIG SOME BELLS OVER AT THE MEDINA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE.

Former Medina County sheriff’s Detective Warren Walter said the database neglects several of the county’s suspicious deaths from his 30 years with the Sheriff’s Office. 

“You go over 30 years like this, and you’ll have some unsolved cases,” said Walter, who retired in 2004 but remains with the Sheriff’s Office as a patrol sergeant for Liverpool Township. 

Walter was an investigator in the killing of Charlie Witenhafer, a high-profile Liverpool Township bookie found dead in his basement office Feb. 1, 1980, with 16 stab wounds to the back, a cut wrist and a cracked skull. 

Witenhafer, 34, was a big, burly man who worked as a concrete contractor. 

“I think you’d have a tough time taking this guy on,” Walter said. “The only way you’re going to take him on is if you knock this guy over or you stab him in the back when he’s not looking.” 

Walter said that’s what he suspects happened. 

“It sounds like someone was pretty angry,” he said. “It sounds like overkill.” 

According to Gazette archives, Witenhafer kept records of his gambling business, which included participants who were prominent business owners and public officials. 

The knife used to kill Witenhafer was found washed and replaced in a kitchen drawer with traces of blood remaining, police said at the time. 

Walter said the case eventually was passed to the Summit County Detective Bureau, and then picked up again by former county Prosecutor Greg Happ and eventually by Texas private investigator Bill Dear, who was hired by the Witenhafer family. 

“We worked on that case for quite a while,” Walter said. “No charges were ever filed, and now the case lies dormant.”

DO YOU, THE READERS, SEE ANY PARALLELS BETWEEN THE HOMICIDE OF CHARLIE WHITENHAFER, THAT HAS GONE UNSOLVED WHERE THE NAMES OF "PROMINENT BUSINESS OWNERS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS" SURFACED, AND THE HOMICIDE OF LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE BRYON MACRON?

THE ABOVE-CITED MEDINA GASSETTE ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT http://www.medina-gazette.com/News/2014/02/08/Database-a-tool-to-thaw-cold-homicide-cases.html

HISTORY SEEMS TO HAVE REPEATED, AND NO ONE REMEMBERED!

IT WOULD ALSO BE APPROPRIATE TO REMEMBER THE UNSOLVED HOMICIDE OF PAMELA TERRILL WHO, PRIOR TO HER MURDER, IS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED AS THE CLERK AT THE MEDINA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE.

THE BLOGGER HAS UNCOVERED A RECENT ARCHIVED NEWS RELEASE FROM UPI (UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL) PERTAINING TO THE MURDER OF PAMELA TERRILL, EXCERPTED BELOW:

May 1, 1988

MEDINA, Ohio -- A former county commissioner Sunday faced trial in the 1976 murder of his secretary, who had filed rape charges against him, in a case [INDEPENDENT] prosecutors said was botched and covered up because of the man's powerful family. 

Jury selection starts Monday in the case against Mark Whitfield, whose trial is being heard by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge James McMonagle because of allegations of extensive corruption in the county's criminal justice system. 

Whitfield, a former Medina County commissioner, was indicted Dec. 16 on murder charges in the Aug. 23, 1976, death of Pamela Terrill, his secretary, who was found hanging from a hook in her closet with Scotch tape covering her mouth, nose and one eyes.

Whitfield is the son of Neil Whitfield, for many years a Common Pleas judge himself and a powerful force in Medina County political circles.

A week before she died, Terrill filed rape charges against Whitfield but the case was never pursued and was only mentioned in passing in reports filed by city police detectives, Hull said.

Police reports show detectives allowed the death scene to be trampled by sightseers and police destroyed several key pieces of evidence, including the scarf found tied around Terrill's neck.

Her body was embalmed before the autopsy, eliminating the possibility of any toxicology tests.

Whitfield also has changed his alibi. Last week, he said he was with his father [THE JUDGE] the entire night of Aug. 22, 1976, and the next morning, apparently contradicting earlier claims he was at a party.

THE COMPLETE UPI NEWS RELEASE CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT http://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/05/01/Ex-commissioner-faces-murder-trial/4448578462400/

ONCE AGAIN, HISTORY SEEM TO BE REPEATED WHERE THE HOMICIDE  OF PAMELA TERILL HAS GONE UNSOLVED WHERE WHITFIELD WAS ACQUITTED BY JURY.

ONE THING IS REASONABLY CERTAIN. IF "CERTAIN PROMINENT BUSINESS OWNERS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS" ARE IN ANY WAY INVOLVED IN THE MURDER OF BRYON MACRON, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, THIS CASE WILL NEVER BE SOLVED!