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Cold Case Murder of Lori Nesson Solved After 47 Years
The fifteen-year-old’s death wasn’t considered a homicide for over four decades
On the evening of September 27th, 1974, fifteen-year-old Lori Nesson was one of many students cheering in the crowds at a high school football game in Columbus, Ohio.
After the game, Lori, an Eastmoor High School honors student, joined her classmates at several parties. She was last seen leaving a party at 12:30 AM, but she never made it home.
On September 28th, her body was found on Rosehill Road in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. She was left naked in a ditch, with her clothes scattered along the road for several miles.
Lori’s death was not initially classified as a homicide. Instead, the coroner described it as “death by asphyxiation from an unknown means.”
Over the years, her case would be reviewed twice more, once in 1998 and once in 2007, to no avail. With a lack of evidence and a shortage of DNA testing capabilities, the case went cold and remained that way for decades.
It wasn’t until 2019 that the case was reopened. Reynoldsburg Patrol Officer Craig Brafford solicited the coroner’s office to reopen and review the case, based on a hunch he had.
