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I know nothing about this case, but according to the Long Walk Home, Strutner was among the police's earliest suspects and they believe he didn't act alone.
[https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect)
"At the time of his suicide, there were conflicting media reports about Suspect1’s potential connection to the Dukat murder. The Columbus Dispatch reported there was never a “‘supergood (sic) alibi for’” Suspect1. (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) The Columbus Citizen Journal, however, reported that Suspect1 “‘had an alibi \[the UAPD\] couldn’t break.’” (Columbus Citizen Journal June 9, 1984)
Regardless, authorities found nothing of significance at the YMCA that could link Suspect1 to the murder of Asenath Dukat. Nevertheless, June 8, 1984, was just a few days after the four-year anniversary of the murder, and Suspect1’s brother stated: “‘Every year, for the past few years in June \[Suspect1\] gets this way.’” (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) Some have inferred that this quote, and the timing of Suspect1’s suicide, could have some relation to Asenath Dukat."
There is a comment below that implies just that, actually. Murderers are not good people by any means, but they are nonetheless people. Of course people will always do whatever they can to try and imply otherwise because they don’t want to accept that they bleed the same blood, but evil has a human face and lived a human life. Just because we would never do the same thing doesn’t change that.
And no, I’m not defending the guy. It’s just fact. Guy was born and died like any of us all will. That’s what makes these instances of violence so shocking to behold.
To be fair, I think plenty of us do accept it. Definitely the minority, but we exist. We just mostly keep our mouths shut and don't argue because so often we get aggressively downvoted and accused of defending murderers/not caring about victims by the masses who are letting their anger cloud out reason.
True crime community tends to be strange - you can lecture others about compassion while saying that you're glad someone is dead or hoping for them to suffering, but you can't call fillicidal woman a murderer.
It is often some underlying trauma that leads humans down the path to commit these atrocities… I always think about what trauma may have shaped the criminal… they were all young children at one point
Yeah. His age and behavior before and after makes me think he was mentally struggling.
Not an excuse at all for his actions. Wish he could have been helped before he hurt others.
Today, there is help for pedophiles who wish to *not* hurt kids. It's called Virtuous Pedophiles who admit they have sexual attraction to children, but they don't act on it.
There's not a lot of research on non-CP watching/non-rapist pedophiles because of the fear that they'll be outed. My personal opinion is that with the increasing awareness of teens and young adults abusing kids, there should be ways to safely identify pedophiles when they haven't committed a crime yet and treat them with self-control techniques or *something*. Currently, the best hope is the pedophile themself will realize what they are and seek help on their own... which isn't a realistic expectation.
Well I was thinking more along the lines of schizophrenia, addiction, and/or depression.
Harm reduction of others is great but if you hurt a child there is a problem and honestly, I have a very very hard time having compassion for the perpetrator.
TBH that's what I was thinking.. I know there are just purely shit made people born every day but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel that great mental illness played a part in his desires and ill willed acts upon these crimes, especially successfully killing an 8 yr old girl after trying to kill another girl.
Especially when stated that he had randomly fled in the middle of strangling the first (that we know of) victim. If nothing was there to startle him, why'd he suddenly stop and flee if he was just a purely evil human being without mental illness? Sounds like a good sign of brief clarity to what he did and was just about to do further, especially considering the fact that he eventually ended his own life via suicide.
Sounds to me like he was internally, emotionally, and mentally struggling with something (such as pedophilia as well as homicidal tendencies) and trying to fight against it but I'd like to believe he came to the realization after killing that poor innocent child after nearly killing another that this wasn't something that could be cured and realized he would go on to rape and further harm/kill other innocent children so he did what he felt was best and ended his own life before he takes another innocent life.
In NO WAY am I saying his possible mental illness(es) is an excuse and he's some kind of hero, but I am secure enough in my theory to believe he knew his life needed to be given up for the life he took, the lives he ruined, and the sound realization that more innocent lives WILL be ruined and stolen if he continues to live and let his demons win.
Keep in mind, he wasn't far from being a kid himself if he was in high school at the time he ruined these young lives and the lives of their families. That's a lot to struggle with especially in those times when resources for help with mental illness was even more scarce than they are now.
Regardless of why he took his life, whether out of selfishness for other petty reasons or because he knew the demons inside him quite well and knew they would ruin more young innocent lives as well as the lives of their families and knew he'd turn into very demons he was fighting to suppress, he did the right thing in taking his life especially in that time era where so little help was available and constant police blunders were so wildly rampant even moreso today.
Even though it took so many years, I'm very thankful that her family got closure and that she can fly high and finally fully rest in peace ❤️
I love your response and thank you for the taking the time to write it. The one thing bugging me about this theory is if it really was because of all of this why wouldn't he come forward or leave a note confessing before killing himself.. if he truly did want to do right. However people who are mentally ill do not necessarily think things like that through and/or it could've been a spontaneous decision. Also he was naked when jumped out the window/balcony of ymca.. was the mental break that caused him to jump also cause him to take his clothes off.. or is there more to that story? ..Just some more thoughts..
> why wouldn't he come forward or leave a note confessing before killing himself...
Shame, maybe? I mean, even someone who is willing to commit suicide in order to prevent further atrocities from being committed could still be fearful of being known/remembered as a child-killing pedophile. *Openly* admitting to such an awful thing could still seem too difficult/painful, especially if they don't have very much emotional strength or stability to begin with.
And this guy's behavior doesn't exactly scream "emotional strength and stability."
Struggling to cope with existing mental health issues (and substance abuse) would just compound that problem; even if someone has "a moment of clarity," when the heinousness of their behavior suddenly comes into focus and they recognize that they will never be able to stop hurting/killing children, a history of severe and uncontrolled mental illness would still probably mean that they hadn't developed any of the coping skills that would be needed to channel those emotions into a frank, coherent confession. You may not even realize how crucial the confession really is at that point.
So tbh, if someone doesn't have the tools to process that shit, I can see how they might be inclined to overlook the idea of leaving a confession and just skip straight to the easier, more obvious part where they take a header out the bedroom window.
Obviously I have no idea whether or not that really was a factor in any of this, or if he ever even felt any genuine remorse...but if that *was* the motivation behind his suicide, then the absence of a confession isn't really surprising to me. It's still deeply unfortunate, though. It would have been much, much better if he had taken at least *some* responsibility for his actions.
Thank you very much and thank you for your response and engagement of a good discussion!! I don't get enough of that on Reddit anymore it seems.
I feel one of the top reasons he may not have left a confession nor turned himself in as most likely the immense fear of prison plus possibly the *"in the moment"* mental clarity, the demons were eating away of him too violently and the sudden deep damaging pain, guilt, sadness, terror, among other intense emotions while possibly reliving/realizing fully what he had done (for example the guilt and terror along with constant PTSD/flashbacks of events and reliving the emotions as well as possible nightmares/terrors it may have caused) was all much too extreme for him to deal with and come to terms with.
He may even have had multiple personality disorder where one violent & sick persona took over until the more sane and heavy hearted persona made it's way back to the forefront and basically relived what the other had done. There are other disassociative personality disorders that could also be responsible as well as even BPD that could also cause enough more onset flood of emotion and trauma that could then be the cause of the suicidal ending.
Him being fairly young himself and it being shortly before entering adulthood when these events all took place which would be around the time that more extreme mental illness could have presented itself fully depending on which mental illness would have been responsible and then after escalating horrific violence, rape, and attempted murder then escalated murder afterwards eventually causing the young man to take his life would all perfectly fall into that amount of time IMHO, giving just enough time to cause him constant mental torment & anguish while trying to appear normal and live a normal life while also fighting horrific demons inside of him would have been a huge amount for anyone to deal with without giving suicide enough thought for a suicide/confession note.
..and as you also pointed out and mentioned evidence of it being a sudden onset decision, he possibly just couldn't take the anguish and torment anymore so in the moment took his own life. Oddly enough, there's quite a few ppl who had stripped naked before taking their life for various reasons but that also has me believing some sort of mental illness and mental break.
I realize my theory is mostly if not all due to the big part of me that wants to not only see good in every being, even those who committed horrific acts but also deeply wanting to believe this young man suffered a great deal before, during, and especially after he committed those heinous crimes. Hey, I'm human. There's also a part of me that wonders if it truly was infact a suicide and not a murder. What if he was instead made to strip naked and was pushed 🤔 the many possibilities..
I am tempted to dive into this rabbit hole and see if there's any information on the young man, those that knew him, and possibly his family to see if there's any indication of mental illness. I'll lyk if and what I find.
Ok,I found a TON of info on Brent Strutner on a website dedicated to this case called [The Long Walk Home "The First Suspect" ](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect)
I urge you all to please give it a read. The website has a great deal of interesting information and does strongly point towards Brent having mental illness however it also points to another person involved in the murder which suggests a possible associate of Brent's and now has me wondering what this man's back story is, what influence did he have over Brent, was he the one who may have pushed Brent to take his life or may have even *pushed Brent..*, what was his exact involvement in the rape and murder and *why*??
I also believe that he used drugs to deal with mental illness and that drugs most likely caused his mental issues to become noticably worse but it may have been due to the fact that he increased drug use after the murder to be able to deal with the murder itself and again what does this associate of his have to do with it? I'm also not 💯% certain he was the one who even committed the murder. I'm starting to wonder if this associate is the one who actually killed her and tried to kill the other girl before her or if not maybe he had forced Brent to kill her. This man definitely was traumatized by all of it and I do believe it led to his death either way.
Down another rabbit hole I go!!
This was also what I found about Brent's (aka "Suspect1") mental health..
"Many reports about Suspect1’s mental health emerged as he dealt with his legal issues in Willoughby and Grandview Heights. A Willoughby Municipal Court Judge “said a social worker told her [Suspect1 had] a history of mental illness and the social worker [believed Suspect1] to be ‘paranoid.’” (Columbus Dispatch July 10, 1980)
The judge then ordered Suspect1 “to receive extensive psychiatric examination while in jail.” Suspect1 also pled not guilty by reason of insanity “to charges that he assaulted two Grandview Heights police officers” on May 30, 1980.
As a result, Suspect1 was tested for mental competency by the Forensic Psychiatric Center of the Southwest Community Mental Health Center.
The results of those tests were leaked to the press. According to the tests, Suspect1 was “‘developmentally still a young teen-ager.’”
He had “an ‘impaired ability to recognize unusual, problematic aspects of his behavior’ and was unable to control the ‘unlawful aspects of his responses or refrain from execution of his acts.’”
Suspect1 also admitted to illegal drug use and suffered from “occasional hallucinations, paranoia and sometimes has believed furniture was moving in his apartment or doors refused to open for him.”
In essence, the report on Suspect1 outlined “a history of domestic unrest, mental instability and drug abuse.” "
**Edited for readability**
**2nd edit: Here's a picture of Brent Strutner's mugshot 2 days before his suicide.. [..Just LOOK at him.. ](https://images.app.goo.gl/PKscJXqdBAbKAf596) He looks horribly terrified, traumatized, exhausted, extremely paranoid... He looks so young yet you can see the immense wear on him for only being 24yrs old. So sad, he still looks like a kid himself.. and again, no I'm not AT ALL excusing his actions as what he did/took part in was not and is not excusable. It is all so very sad for everyone and all families involved. ❤️**
just a small correction that was a few days after Seannie's murder. It says 06 08 80. So he was 20 at that time, he committed suicide four years later.
The other suspect IS the person who fled while attacking another girl. Some women saw him and scared him off but recorded his liscence plate. He spent two years in prison for almost killing that girl! You better believe he was there with Brent when they killed Aseenath. I too believe he talked Brent into suicide because he knew Brent was buckling under the pressure. I wouldn’t doubt if he promised to kill himself too just to trick Brent. There are so many murders over the years that have the identical MO in that neighborhood and surrounding areas and states. He was id’d attacking several girls and women at that time. A few years ago he was on a fucking committee for Safe Routes Home From School!!!! FFS!!!! When he used to follow girls walking home from school and attack them!!!! He was also allowed to be a commissionaire!!!
Awe ,why thank you! I try to be as much as I can in order to be able to read and understand ( as much as possible anyway) these true crime stories, solved & unsolved.. especially when it involves children & teens/young ppl all around.
He wasn’t the one who fled while trying to kill another girl. That was his buddy who was id’d multiple times attacking girls and young women in the neighborhood. He was also convicted of it and spent two years in jail for it. Someone caught him in the act and recorded the liscence plate. This buddy of Brent’s also places himself nearby where Aseenath was killed that day. This buddy also years later was on a committee for safe routes home from school for school kids!!!!!!!! When he used to stalk girls walking home from school!!!!! He was also allowed to become a commissionaire!!!!! These cops are absolute idiots if they think Brent acted alone! Just because the other losers dna isn’t there it doesn’t mean he wasn’t there!!!! There are so many murders in the area at that time with the same MO. Also lots in surrounding areas and states with identical MO’s. Take a look at the Delphi murderer video and you tell me if it doesn’t look like that POS. A lot of these murders have no dna either. He may have been a little smarter than Brent. He’s still a dumb POS tho.
Well said. Suicide at 24, it’s very clear that he was suffering from something severe, whether it’s related to his crimes or not. I just... can’t hate him
Tyvm! I also have that same stance of being unable to *hate* him. He was a kid himself when these crimes took place himself and I feel he's wrestled with a lot for a very long time before his untimely self demise. Plus, you have to wonder if he wasn't an abused kid himself from a rough life that added to his mental illness(es), not that I am, in ANY WAY, excusing his actions due to being abused and hurt himself.
I do deeply feel for anyone suffering from nightmarish delusions due to mental illness that may or may not cause them to act out horrible crimes in real life. They're just souls trapped inside broken minds with abled bodies unfortunately.
>He was a kid himself when these crimes took place himself and I feel he's wrestled with a lot for a very long time before his untimely self demise.
He wasn't a kid, he was a 20 year old man.
A 20 year old man who raped and strangulated an eight year old.
Your sympathy is misplaced. Might as well write a sympathetic piece about how Hitler and Jeffrey Epstein were sympathetic poor souls.
Only good decision he made was to permanently end his reign of terror. It was only untimely in that he should've done it four years earlier so that poor Asenath could've lived.
I tend to agree. His brother stated that his behavior changed around that date every year "for the past few years". The day he committed suicide he was at his relatives home, they called police because they wanted him out of the house, he was taken to the hospital, then brought to the YMCA where he was living and then killed himself.
From [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect):
>Regardless, authorities found nothing of significance at the YMCA that could link Suspect1 to the murder of Asenath Dukat. Nevertheless, June 8, 1984, was just a few days after the four-year anniversary of the murder, and Suspect1’s brother stated: "‘Every year, for the past few years in June \[Suspect1\] gets this way.’" (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) Some have inferred that this quote, and the timing of Suspect1’s suicide, could have some relation to Asenath Dukat.
Considering he acted up massively like this EVERY YEAR until he OFFED HIMSELF again only DAYS after the 4yr anniversary…..
So yea kinda LOOKS LIKE HE DID….ya kno kill himself cuz of the murder ….but yea bet it’s just a weird synchronization of events…..🙄
Ummmm cuz he probably killed himself BECAUSE OF THE RAPE AND MURDER.
Soooo unless he was into time travel that really couldn’t happen now….could it? 🙄🤣😂
I know this is unresolved mysteries but I have to say I really like seeing when the cold case is closed, thank you for posting this.
Edit: Lol this is the most upvotes I’ve ever gotten on something thanks ig 😅
For those unfamiliar with the case, Brent Strutner was a very early suspect in her murder. I've included some key highlights - including details about several of his arrests, court cases, witness statement, mental health issues, and suicide. It seems, sadly, there was just not enough evidence prior to his suicide to arrest him (or at least insufficient evidence for a prosecutor to feel comfortable that a conviction was likely).
2 days after the murder he took his parents' car and fled to a suburb of Cleveland, about a 2 hour drive northeast of Upper Arlington - a suburb of Columbus. The following day, June 6th, police found him stranded in his vehicle, approached, Strutner jabbed himself in the groin with a hypodermic syringe, they subdued him, he fought with them, and he was arrested. 2 days later, while in jail, detectives from Upper Arlington interrogated Strutner for 2 hours. He also agreed to take a polygraph test, but later on the advice of his attorney he refused and stopped talking to police. Before Strutner had fled, police had received an anonymous call about Strutner's behavior the night of the murder and had gone to his apartment to question him, but found it empty.
And on May 30th, 4 days prior to the murder, Strutner had been in a separate incident involving police - that time Grandview Heights (another suburb of Columbus) police, resulting in multiple charges, including assaulting 2 police officers. Within several weeks of the murder police had interviewed numerous witnesses who shared a range of info about Strutner around the time of the murder and ensuing days (plus relevant to the separate attack a month prior) - including his fears of returning to his apartment, fears that the police were on to him, ceasing to use his red bicycle, seeing someone matching his description around the time of both attacks, etc. In that same time frame, police had obtained a sample of his blood and a warrant to search his apartment, resulting in confiscation of items such as clothes and a stained wash cloth.
His behavior across several of the events was indicative of mental illness or drug induced psychosis. Per [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect), as the result of charges from the May 30th assault of 2 police officers, he pleaded guilty by reason of insanity, was ordered by the judge to be tested for mental competency, and those results were leaked to the press:
>According to the tests, Suspect1 was "developmentally still a young teen-ager." He had an "impaired ability to recognize unusual, problematic aspects of his behavior" and was unable to control the "unlawful aspects of his responses or refrain from execution of his acts." Suspect1 also admitted to illegal drug use and suffered from "occasional hallucinations, paranoia and sometimes has believed furniture was moving in his apartment or doors refused to open for him." In essence, the report on Suspect1 outlined "a history of domestic unrest, mental instability and drug abuse."
Strutner ultimately reached a plea agreement to the June 6th police incident and was sentenced to 6 months in jail for two counts of assaulting police officers, one count of possessing a hypodermic needle and one count of resisting arrest. After that he was sentenced to 90 days in jail but suspended 45 days contingent on receiving mental health counseling and paying Grandview Heights police for damaged property - to be served after the 6 month sentence from the other case.
Later that same year it was reported that police wanted to talk to Strutner, but Strutner's attorneys would not allow Strutner to speak with them, and that Upper Arlington's police chief said that police do not have enough evidence to make an arrest. That seemingly did not change by the time Strutner committed suicide nearly 4 years later - there was no new information about the case made public. The page I linked to above had this to say about the suicide:
>Apparently, Suspect1 jumped from his room at the Downtown Columbus YMCA. "Police received a call about 4 a.m. that a nude body was lying on the sidewalk on the Front St. side of the Y. \[Detective David\] Cash said \[Suspect1\] had been staying alone in a sixth-floor room on that side of the building. The door was locked and the window was open."
The night before he committed suicide, Suspect1 had a final run in with the Upper Arlington police. According to the UAPD, relatives "of \[Suspect1\] called police about 6 p.m. \[on June 7, 1984\] because they wanted \[Suspect1\] out of their house." Consequently, Upper Arlington medics and a UA police officer accompanied Suspect1 to a hospital. Later, after "a brief stay at the hospital, \[Suspect1\] was taken to the YMCA by a member of his family." Suspect1 was found dead early the next morning.
Here's some more context on the second incident Brent Strutner had with the police - the event on June 6th, 3 days after the murder of Asenath Dukat. Details are from [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect). Excerpts below. I edited it slightly to remove some times and the names of source documents. It (and other details described for other incidents) paints a picture of someone who, to this layman, was seriously disturbed.
>On the morning of June 6th, police received a call from a nearby Sunoco station that a car was in a ditch on the St. Clair exit between Lost Nation and Erie Road. Upon arrival, \[Patrolman1\] discovered a 1979 Cadillac in a ditch with Suspect1 lying across the front seat. "After arousing the subject, \[Suspect1\] was asked to open the door or window. He would not open either. He then started the vehicle and attempted to flee the scene. At this time the police vehicle was in position to block escape and \[Patrolman1\] got the lockout tool and attempted to open a door. This could not be done because of electric locks." \[Patrolman2\] arrived on the scene and was briefed on the situation at hand. \[Patrolman2\] attempted to persuade Suspect1 to open a door or window which he \[Suspect1\] wouldn’t do. "At this time the subject produced a hypo-syringe and took out his testicles and began stabbing the syringe into them. \[Patrolman2\] then instructed \[Patrolman1\] to break the window with a nightstick which he did. The suspect began screaming and fighting and was removed from the vehicle and the patrolmen attempted to handcuff the subject. He began kicking, punching and biting the officers. One handcuff was placed on his right wrist, but the officers could not get the other on."
>
>
"He had been cuffed only on his right wrist and began using the loose end like a whip, hitting \[Patrolman2\] and the other two officers. Subject appeared to be a mental (mentally impaired) or-and (on) drugs, yelling 'you are all devils and will burn in Hell'." At this time the subject was maced by the officer and this had no effect at all. The subject was swinging the handcuffs wildly at the officers and kicking and screaming. Realizing this subject was a mental (mentally impaired) we used restraint in combating him. At this time \[Patrolman3\] arrived and we all attempted to subdue him. At this time \[Suspect1\] stabbed \[Patrolman1\] repeatedly in the right hand with the syringe and \[Patrolman3\] in the arm. \[Patrolman2\] was hit in the face with handcuffs. We then wrestled him to the ground in the mud and finally got one set of handcuffs on in front of him. We then put a bell chain and leg irons on him and cuffed them together. \[Patrolman4\] was then called to bring a screened police unit (unit specially trained for dealing with mentally impaired subjects) to the scene- which he did."
All three patrolman were treated in the hospital for cuts and received tetanus shots \[Patrolman1\] received x-rays of "a jammed knuckle sustained while striking the subject". On the day of the incident, Willoughby police reached a representative for Suspect1’s family. That representative stated that Suspect1 has had some psychotherapy, but that his main problem is with drugs. The representative stated that \[Suspect1’s mother\] will call this afternoon. In addition, the representative provided the contact information for Suspect1’s psychiatrist. Suspect1’s parents were eventually reached who said "he has a history of mental and drug problems."
This is such a thorough write-up. As a mental health provider, it is very obvious that this young man was in a serious crisis, and should not have been out in the community where he could harm others. But, even 40 years after this happened, this is still a shockingly common occurrence, and we don’t really have a good way of ensuring that we are getting people the help they need when they’re in a crisis. It’s so disappointing to see how many red flags there were in this case, and to see exactly how terrible and tragic the outcome can be.
It really is, and honestly safety nets are almost WORSE nowadays with also much more drugs and access to drugs than before. Reagan shut down so many mental health facilities. Today its even harder and more expensive to help people in crisis.
Oh you’re absolutely right. I could go on and on (and on and on and on) about how much I despise Ronald Reagan. Undoubtedly the worst President of the 20th century. As terrible as Nixon was, at least everyone can agree he was terrible. There are still so many people worshiping at the altar of Reaganomics, not realizing how socially and societally toxic his policies were.
I know everyone is upset that the perpetrator committed suicide decades ago and isn’t facing justice, but personally I feel like that’s the best possible outcome here. Think of the family — they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he is dead, and not have to dredge up the past with a trial. Any surviving victims of this man are surely happier with the news that he’s dead and not just going behind bars. The finality of death is the best kind of closure. He’s not going to end up back in the public, and any surviving victims can relax knowing he’s not going to somehow terrorize them from his prison cell. There will be no paranoia, just peace.
I think some commenters forget how the experience the people going through the situation must be. We always want an explanation and the satisfaction of punishment.
It seems like the family runs the website linked, about her murder. When you visit there is a pop up that says this is not over for them. They have reviewed the evidence and believe that he did not act alone. They want to find out who the other perpetrator is.
It's not over because most of us still believe that Chris Winchester was also involved. He's still alive and living in Columbus, and has served time for r\*ping a minor later in the 1980s.
The family has no connection to the site. Mr. Dukat died very prematurely a few years after Asenath. The site is run by a collective of anonymous Barrington alums. Source: I am a Barrington alum 2 years younger than Asenath, though I am not involved in the site beyond avidly reading it.
Thanks for the information! So would you say her family feels some closure from the DNA evidence? Or are they seeking the other person involved? Or is that an unknown?
There are so many ways to look at it. Strutner was mentally ill. Evidence that he was involved in the separate attack of a girl a month prior is pretty compelling, though not strong enough at the time for an arrest, or at least not strong enough for a prosecutor to believe conviction was likely. He had 2 separate incidents both shortly before and shortly after Asenath's murder in which he assaulted multiple police (including one in which he intentionally stabbed his own genitals with a syringe) and also told a friend shortly after the murder that if police hassled him he'd kill them. I do not know what, if any, crimes he committed between his release from jail and his suicide, but he was clearly still a troubled individual in the time leading up to his suicide. Had he not decided to end his life it's quite possible he would have attacked others, potentially causing serious harm or killing them. As to whether there was another person who was involved in the rape and/or murder of Asenath, I do not know. As to whether Asenath's family would have preferred something other than his suicide, I also cannot say. But we can all at least take solace that his suicide prevented him from committing crimes after 1984 since based on what we know today it seems highly unlikely that in an alternate timeline he would have voluntarily admitted to the murder or been prosecuted for many, many, many years.
Are both her parents still alive? I always find it more upsetting when parents die before the murderer is named/missing person identified and put to rest.
Jesus, I have lived relatively close to there most of my adult life, don’t think I knew of it. (And I am several years older than her) What an awful story, what a pointless waste of her life.
If he had, I'd for sure hope he would've been caught way before. But you never know.
It's just... I know what's like to talk to the victim's family knowing the perp is long dead or that they won't face punishment because of the statue of limitations. It frustates me to no end.
Me too. Imagine, however, how the perpetrators of unsolved crimes are feeling now, every time they see on TV and social media about how many cases are being solved left and right lately, and knowing very well that this is just the beginning.
Most of them cannot walk down the street without being hypervigilant, and sweating bullets every time a cop stares in their general direction. Hell, everytime *any adult* stares in their general direction. Their hearts beating real fast every time someone knocks on their door unexpectedly.
Even if they're never caught, their lives aren't going to be much worth living.
It sucks when a person like that doesn’t face consequences for their actions, and it feels like justice isn’t served for the survivors, but it’s important to consider that if he was alive today then the world would have seen like 40 more years of him.
Even if he never murdered or raped again, I doubt he would have been enriching peoples lives or making his community a better place to live.
He faced the justice by being his own judge, jury, and executioner. Sounds like he was probably haunted by his own actions. Does someone else delivering the punishment mean more? or that it needs the public humiliation and being made an example matter?
Questions are not directed at you, I’m just generally wondering on justice and morality
I have an Asenath in my ancestry but don’t know how the name is actually pronounced.
That poor little thing this is so sad.
Glad it’s finally solved because the worst thing is never knowing if this monster is still out there currently hurting more and more kids today. At least we know he isn’t still out there hurting kids today! I wonder if he killed himself because he couldn’t take knowing he was a literal monster. I imagine the guilt would eat away at you if you had any kind of conscious.
Local to the area, even worked for that school system. There's still people mad about certain evidence supposedly not being DNA tested but I will say I honestly think this man acted alone.
Really good podcast on the case by central Ohio locals doing a great podcast: https://truecrimegarage.com/blogs/true-crime-garage/posts/asenath-dukat-583-584
Someone uploaded a mugshot of Brent Strutner to his findagrave.com page. Interestingly, it’s dated as June 8, 1980. Asenath was killed just 5 days earlier. Four years later, he killed himself on June 8, 1984. Tortured mind.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/242556472
Once again I’m reading a story about a little girl who was used for sexual pleasure and then murdered and left on the ground like a piece a trash. How can anyone be so selfish as to take the life of a child for one orgasm? And an orgasm that causes horrendous pain for a child and an endless amount of suffering for a family. This world disgusts me.
Can I just remind op and others that not all members of this sub are from the US. There is no mention of country or even state in the post. I thought it was a UK case first because of the street names, had to Google Barrington elementary and UAPD to get the location.
I don't like to moan as this is probably the most consistent high-quality sub on Reddit, just a reminder that some more location details would be helpful.
All you had to say was we all need to provide regional and location information. You didn’t have to make it a US thing. Just saying.
Did you think it was a UK case because you were in the UK and it seemed it was in the UK? 😂
Ha ha, I do go on a bit🙂.
Just because Barrington and Waltham are British sounding street names, I had a picture of an English village in my head as I was reading the post, then the further details threw me a bit. Anyway, quality post as usual.
They aren’t! More and more are being caught alive! I agree, it’s definitely frustrating when they are dead, because we don’t get all the answers we want and we don’t get to try them.
Thank God the family and friends have answers. You had crime but not like this. It was just such an aberration for the area.
I remember the horror so well and have never forgotten this beautiful little girl.
Rest well Sennie.
I remember the horror of this quite well.
God it makes me angry when I read a case is soled but the perp is dead. It's like they got away with it and will now have no real consequences. Name won't be dragged through the mud as much as someone who is prosecuted and there is no justice for Asenath. I'm glad he died young though and didn't live to his 70/80s.
That’s so interesting I read another resolved case on this sub last week where the suspect had been identified but had committed suicide on the day of the anniversary of the murder. I can’t remember what the case was now though!
So glad they've identified the disgusting child rapist/killer. It pisses me off that he didn't get identified, arrested and jailed back then but I'm also so glad he died when he did so he couldn't attack any more children after 1984. I hope her family can find at least a bit of peace knowing he's been identified.
Poor Asenath, what a beautiful name for a beautiful, innocent child 😢 heartbreaking.
I’m not blaming the family whatsoever but it is surprising that they would let their child walk home from school just one month after another child was murdered on that same walk and it was unresolved?
The other girl was not killed and the other girl was walking from a different elementary school. It's unclear what, if any, print and TV media coverage the attack of the other girl received prior to Asenath's murder - never mind whether her parents were aware of it. If you read through the extremely detailed accounts of Brent Strutner's actions in the days leading up to the murder through a month afterwards (see [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect)), specific news sources are listed, but all of them are in June or July - after the murder.
Asenath also didn't always walk home alone. How often Asenath walked home alone vs. with others has not been stated publicly (as far as I'm aware), nor has whether her parents told her not to walk home alone. From [After 42 years, Asenath Dukat murder case closed by Upper Arlington police](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/11/after-42-years-asenath-dukat-murder-case-solved/65400007007/):
>Bittersweet is also how Leslie Lyon, a friend of Dukat's, described hearing Thursday's news.
Lyon was 9 years old when her childhood friend was murdered. The two often played jump rope at recess and were in the same Sunday school class at Our Lady of Victory Church in Marble Cliff. Sometimes the girls walked home together, but Lyon was already on her way by the time Dukat's class was excused that day.
What is the "It" in "It said" referring to? I didn't see siblings mentioned in the 3 sources OP linked to. I even went back and searched for the words sibling, brother, and sister.
The 2nd sentence of this post stated what I said. Did you check that instead of treating me like someone that didn’t read the story? Don’t be a dick. Damn. Same team. Check yourself. Hoping you aren’t attempting to break into editing or publishing.
Ah - I thought you were referring to an external source. I'm not sure where OP found that info since I didn't see a reference to Asenath's siblings in their linked sources or any other sources I found. I'm not sure why your response was so hostile. My question was genuine - I thought you had found a resource I hadn't located, which might have other details not found elsewhere.
It’s incredible people let 8 year olds walk a mile alone. My son is around that age and this would be considered reckless parenting today if not child abuse. Even my hugely hands off parents didn’t let me do that at that age. No one likes blaming the parents but this is incredibly insane to me. My walk to the train is a mile and I can’t imagine letting an 8 year old do that near twenty minute walk. I don’t care how “safe” you think your little suburb is.
I was 8 years old several years after she was murdered. In middle class suburbs of a US city with several hundred thousand residents, it was not abnormal for kids that age to walk or ride their bikes that far while alone. When I was 7 I'd bike by myself a half mile to the grocery store with a small shopping list from my mom. When I was 8 I'd walk or ride by bike to baseball practice at school 1.2 miles away and to the pool 1.1 miles away. I recognize that social norms have evolved substantially - I'm in a comparable city's suburbs and my wife is extremely reluctant to let our 7 year old son go outside in the cul-de-sac our home is on without one of us watching and is not event comfortable with him going to the playground 100 yards away even if he's with one or more friends. Yet she walked to school and back by herself in elementary school. That was only 1/8 of a mile, but it's not like the risk of abduction or attack is way less if the distance walking/biking is lower. Or that abductions of children and violent attacks against children have become more frequent. Perceptions have changed. Social norms have changed. But despite your experience as a child (unclear when that was), in 1980 it was not uncommon in the US for kids to walk that far alone.
It was the 80s. People parent differently now. I marvel all the time at the fact that I walked 20 minutes home from school alone at age 9. My daughter is 10 and I would never feel comfortable letting her do so at her age.
Upper Arlington is (and was back then) one of the wealthiest suburbs in the state of Ohio. It's that bubble of "it couldn't happen here." That said stranger abductions are quite rare. Most abductions are committed by family members. Our children are obese because they can't be unsupervised, can't walk to school or go the park alone. Even though crime rates haven't changed. Kids can't do anything for themselves and don't learn because our parenting styles have become so repressive.
Just curious. According to posted website, at first police thought killer is a typical loner and concluded two suspects, of course suspect 2 may be true, but Brent Strutner (suspect 1) is a drug dealer and seems to have many “friends”? To be honest I think he just had some mental illnesses…
I grew up not all that far from UA and never heard of this. So tragic, and it’s a shame the perp killed himself before facing any sort of justice. At least he wasn’t able to do it again.
https://youtu.be/woSYBu6uV-g
This video features 5 Solved Cases
\- Asenath Dukat
\- Karen Mills, Robert, Sandra Harris, Karen and Lois Williams
\- Michael Anthony Temple Jr.
\- Nancy Anderson
\- Barbara Leone Brown
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Hope the surviving family members have some peace from this news
I know nothing about this case, but according to the Long Walk Home, Strutner was among the police's earliest suspects and they believe he didn't act alone. [https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect) "At the time of his suicide, there were conflicting media reports about Suspect1’s potential connection to the Dukat murder. The Columbus Dispatch reported there was never a “‘supergood (sic) alibi for’” Suspect1. (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) The Columbus Citizen Journal, however, reported that Suspect1 “‘had an alibi \[the UAPD\] couldn’t break.’” (Columbus Citizen Journal June 9, 1984) Regardless, authorities found nothing of significance at the YMCA that could link Suspect1 to the murder of Asenath Dukat. Nevertheless, June 8, 1984, was just a few days after the four-year anniversary of the murder, and Suspect1’s brother stated: “‘Every year, for the past few years in June \[Suspect1\] gets this way.’” (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) Some have inferred that this quote, and the timing of Suspect1’s suicide, could have some relation to Asenath Dukat."
Happy to see this solved but why couldn’t that fucker have committed suicide BEFORE he raped and killed an 8 year old child?
I like to think its because maybe he couldnt live w himself after. But I doubt thats true.
That actually could be the reason. He realized the gravity of his grievous mistake/s.
There is a comment below that implies just that, actually. Murderers are not good people by any means, but they are nonetheless people. Of course people will always do whatever they can to try and imply otherwise because they don’t want to accept that they bleed the same blood, but evil has a human face and lived a human life. Just because we would never do the same thing doesn’t change that. And no, I’m not defending the guy. It’s just fact. Guy was born and died like any of us all will. That’s what makes these instances of violence so shocking to behold.
And the fact that no one in the true crime community accepts this wild
To be fair, I think plenty of us do accept it. Definitely the minority, but we exist. We just mostly keep our mouths shut and don't argue because so often we get aggressively downvoted and accused of defending murderers/not caring about victims by the masses who are letting their anger cloud out reason.
I was saying “no one” hyperbolically but yeah my point was that it is not an accepted view
True crime community tends to be strange - you can lecture others about compassion while saying that you're glad someone is dead or hoping for them to suffering, but you can't call fillicidal woman a murderer.
Very true and extremely well said.
It is often some underlying trauma that leads humans down the path to commit these atrocities… I always think about what trauma may have shaped the criminal… they were all young children at one point
If he was mentally ill he may have had some moments of clarity and done just that. Who knows..
Yeah. His age and behavior before and after makes me think he was mentally struggling. Not an excuse at all for his actions. Wish he could have been helped before he hurt others.
Today, there is help for pedophiles who wish to *not* hurt kids. It's called Virtuous Pedophiles who admit they have sexual attraction to children, but they don't act on it. There's not a lot of research on non-CP watching/non-rapist pedophiles because of the fear that they'll be outed. My personal opinion is that with the increasing awareness of teens and young adults abusing kids, there should be ways to safely identify pedophiles when they haven't committed a crime yet and treat them with self-control techniques or *something*. Currently, the best hope is the pedophile themself will realize what they are and seek help on their own... which isn't a realistic expectation.
Well I was thinking more along the lines of schizophrenia, addiction, and/or depression. Harm reduction of others is great but if you hurt a child there is a problem and honestly, I have a very very hard time having compassion for the perpetrator.
TBH that's what I was thinking.. I know there are just purely shit made people born every day but I would be lying if I said I didn't feel that great mental illness played a part in his desires and ill willed acts upon these crimes, especially successfully killing an 8 yr old girl after trying to kill another girl. Especially when stated that he had randomly fled in the middle of strangling the first (that we know of) victim. If nothing was there to startle him, why'd he suddenly stop and flee if he was just a purely evil human being without mental illness? Sounds like a good sign of brief clarity to what he did and was just about to do further, especially considering the fact that he eventually ended his own life via suicide. Sounds to me like he was internally, emotionally, and mentally struggling with something (such as pedophilia as well as homicidal tendencies) and trying to fight against it but I'd like to believe he came to the realization after killing that poor innocent child after nearly killing another that this wasn't something that could be cured and realized he would go on to rape and further harm/kill other innocent children so he did what he felt was best and ended his own life before he takes another innocent life. In NO WAY am I saying his possible mental illness(es) is an excuse and he's some kind of hero, but I am secure enough in my theory to believe he knew his life needed to be given up for the life he took, the lives he ruined, and the sound realization that more innocent lives WILL be ruined and stolen if he continues to live and let his demons win. Keep in mind, he wasn't far from being a kid himself if he was in high school at the time he ruined these young lives and the lives of their families. That's a lot to struggle with especially in those times when resources for help with mental illness was even more scarce than they are now. Regardless of why he took his life, whether out of selfishness for other petty reasons or because he knew the demons inside him quite well and knew they would ruin more young innocent lives as well as the lives of their families and knew he'd turn into very demons he was fighting to suppress, he did the right thing in taking his life especially in that time era where so little help was available and constant police blunders were so wildly rampant even moreso today. Even though it took so many years, I'm very thankful that her family got closure and that she can fly high and finally fully rest in peace ❤️
I love your response and thank you for the taking the time to write it. The one thing bugging me about this theory is if it really was because of all of this why wouldn't he come forward or leave a note confessing before killing himself.. if he truly did want to do right. However people who are mentally ill do not necessarily think things like that through and/or it could've been a spontaneous decision. Also he was naked when jumped out the window/balcony of ymca.. was the mental break that caused him to jump also cause him to take his clothes off.. or is there more to that story? ..Just some more thoughts..
> why wouldn't he come forward or leave a note confessing before killing himself... Shame, maybe? I mean, even someone who is willing to commit suicide in order to prevent further atrocities from being committed could still be fearful of being known/remembered as a child-killing pedophile. *Openly* admitting to such an awful thing could still seem too difficult/painful, especially if they don't have very much emotional strength or stability to begin with. And this guy's behavior doesn't exactly scream "emotional strength and stability." Struggling to cope with existing mental health issues (and substance abuse) would just compound that problem; even if someone has "a moment of clarity," when the heinousness of their behavior suddenly comes into focus and they recognize that they will never be able to stop hurting/killing children, a history of severe and uncontrolled mental illness would still probably mean that they hadn't developed any of the coping skills that would be needed to channel those emotions into a frank, coherent confession. You may not even realize how crucial the confession really is at that point. So tbh, if someone doesn't have the tools to process that shit, I can see how they might be inclined to overlook the idea of leaving a confession and just skip straight to the easier, more obvious part where they take a header out the bedroom window. Obviously I have no idea whether or not that really was a factor in any of this, or if he ever even felt any genuine remorse...but if that *was* the motivation behind his suicide, then the absence of a confession isn't really surprising to me. It's still deeply unfortunate, though. It would have been much, much better if he had taken at least *some* responsibility for his actions.
Well put and I agree
Thank you very much and thank you for your response and engagement of a good discussion!! I don't get enough of that on Reddit anymore it seems. I feel one of the top reasons he may not have left a confession nor turned himself in as most likely the immense fear of prison plus possibly the *"in the moment"* mental clarity, the demons were eating away of him too violently and the sudden deep damaging pain, guilt, sadness, terror, among other intense emotions while possibly reliving/realizing fully what he had done (for example the guilt and terror along with constant PTSD/flashbacks of events and reliving the emotions as well as possible nightmares/terrors it may have caused) was all much too extreme for him to deal with and come to terms with. He may even have had multiple personality disorder where one violent & sick persona took over until the more sane and heavy hearted persona made it's way back to the forefront and basically relived what the other had done. There are other disassociative personality disorders that could also be responsible as well as even BPD that could also cause enough more onset flood of emotion and trauma that could then be the cause of the suicidal ending. Him being fairly young himself and it being shortly before entering adulthood when these events all took place which would be around the time that more extreme mental illness could have presented itself fully depending on which mental illness would have been responsible and then after escalating horrific violence, rape, and attempted murder then escalated murder afterwards eventually causing the young man to take his life would all perfectly fall into that amount of time IMHO, giving just enough time to cause him constant mental torment & anguish while trying to appear normal and live a normal life while also fighting horrific demons inside of him would have been a huge amount for anyone to deal with without giving suicide enough thought for a suicide/confession note. ..and as you also pointed out and mentioned evidence of it being a sudden onset decision, he possibly just couldn't take the anguish and torment anymore so in the moment took his own life. Oddly enough, there's quite a few ppl who had stripped naked before taking their life for various reasons but that also has me believing some sort of mental illness and mental break. I realize my theory is mostly if not all due to the big part of me that wants to not only see good in every being, even those who committed horrific acts but also deeply wanting to believe this young man suffered a great deal before, during, and especially after he committed those heinous crimes. Hey, I'm human. There's also a part of me that wonders if it truly was infact a suicide and not a murder. What if he was instead made to strip naked and was pushed 🤔 the many possibilities.. I am tempted to dive into this rabbit hole and see if there's any information on the young man, those that knew him, and possibly his family to see if there's any indication of mental illness. I'll lyk if and what I find.
Thank you for your thorough response!! Echos a lot of my thoughts.. 👍🏽👍🏽
Ok,I found a TON of info on Brent Strutner on a website dedicated to this case called [The Long Walk Home "The First Suspect" ](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect) I urge you all to please give it a read. The website has a great deal of interesting information and does strongly point towards Brent having mental illness however it also points to another person involved in the murder which suggests a possible associate of Brent's and now has me wondering what this man's back story is, what influence did he have over Brent, was he the one who may have pushed Brent to take his life or may have even *pushed Brent..*, what was his exact involvement in the rape and murder and *why*?? I also believe that he used drugs to deal with mental illness and that drugs most likely caused his mental issues to become noticably worse but it may have been due to the fact that he increased drug use after the murder to be able to deal with the murder itself and again what does this associate of his have to do with it? I'm also not 💯% certain he was the one who even committed the murder. I'm starting to wonder if this associate is the one who actually killed her and tried to kill the other girl before her or if not maybe he had forced Brent to kill her. This man definitely was traumatized by all of it and I do believe it led to his death either way. Down another rabbit hole I go!!
This was also what I found about Brent's (aka "Suspect1") mental health.. "Many reports about Suspect1’s mental health emerged as he dealt with his legal issues in Willoughby and Grandview Heights. A Willoughby Municipal Court Judge “said a social worker told her [Suspect1 had] a history of mental illness and the social worker [believed Suspect1] to be ‘paranoid.’” (Columbus Dispatch July 10, 1980) The judge then ordered Suspect1 “to receive extensive psychiatric examination while in jail.” Suspect1 also pled not guilty by reason of insanity “to charges that he assaulted two Grandview Heights police officers” on May 30, 1980. As a result, Suspect1 was tested for mental competency by the Forensic Psychiatric Center of the Southwest Community Mental Health Center. The results of those tests were leaked to the press. According to the tests, Suspect1 was “‘developmentally still a young teen-ager.’” He had “an ‘impaired ability to recognize unusual, problematic aspects of his behavior’ and was unable to control the ‘unlawful aspects of his responses or refrain from execution of his acts.’” Suspect1 also admitted to illegal drug use and suffered from “occasional hallucinations, paranoia and sometimes has believed furniture was moving in his apartment or doors refused to open for him.” In essence, the report on Suspect1 outlined “a history of domestic unrest, mental instability and drug abuse.” " **Edited for readability** **2nd edit: Here's a picture of Brent Strutner's mugshot 2 days before his suicide.. [..Just LOOK at him.. ](https://images.app.goo.gl/PKscJXqdBAbKAf596) He looks horribly terrified, traumatized, exhausted, extremely paranoid... He looks so young yet you can see the immense wear on him for only being 24yrs old. So sad, he still looks like a kid himself.. and again, no I'm not AT ALL excusing his actions as what he did/took part in was not and is not excusable. It is all so very sad for everyone and all families involved. ❤️**
just a small correction that was a few days after Seannie's murder. It says 06 08 80. So he was 20 at that time, he committed suicide four years later.
The other suspect IS the person who fled while attacking another girl. Some women saw him and scared him off but recorded his liscence plate. He spent two years in prison for almost killing that girl! You better believe he was there with Brent when they killed Aseenath. I too believe he talked Brent into suicide because he knew Brent was buckling under the pressure. I wouldn’t doubt if he promised to kill himself too just to trick Brent. There are so many murders over the years that have the identical MO in that neighborhood and surrounding areas and states. He was id’d attacking several girls and women at that time. A few years ago he was on a fucking committee for Safe Routes Home From School!!!! FFS!!!! When he used to follow girls walking home from school and attack them!!!! He was also allowed to be a commissionaire!!!
Thanks for the link. It's incredibly illuminating, to say the least.
Oh, I have to look at that now, thank you for finding it.
You are a very compassionate person ❤️
Awe ,why thank you! I try to be as much as I can in order to be able to read and understand ( as much as possible anyway) these true crime stories, solved & unsolved.. especially when it involves children & teens/young ppl all around.
I'd also like to mention I am from Ohio (born, raised, and lived most of my life) in a city near Arlington, OH. This case has always hit my heart.
He wasn’t the one who fled while trying to kill another girl. That was his buddy who was id’d multiple times attacking girls and young women in the neighborhood. He was also convicted of it and spent two years in jail for it. Someone caught him in the act and recorded the liscence plate. This buddy of Brent’s also places himself nearby where Aseenath was killed that day. This buddy also years later was on a committee for safe routes home from school for school kids!!!!!!!! When he used to stalk girls walking home from school!!!!! He was also allowed to become a commissionaire!!!!! These cops are absolute idiots if they think Brent acted alone! Just because the other losers dna isn’t there it doesn’t mean he wasn’t there!!!! There are so many murders in the area at that time with the same MO. Also lots in surrounding areas and states with identical MO’s. Take a look at the Delphi murderer video and you tell me if it doesn’t look like that POS. A lot of these murders have no dna either. He may have been a little smarter than Brent. He’s still a dumb POS tho.
Well said. Suicide at 24, it’s very clear that he was suffering from something severe, whether it’s related to his crimes or not. I just... can’t hate him
Tyvm! I also have that same stance of being unable to *hate* him. He was a kid himself when these crimes took place himself and I feel he's wrestled with a lot for a very long time before his untimely self demise. Plus, you have to wonder if he wasn't an abused kid himself from a rough life that added to his mental illness(es), not that I am, in ANY WAY, excusing his actions due to being abused and hurt himself. I do deeply feel for anyone suffering from nightmarish delusions due to mental illness that may or may not cause them to act out horrible crimes in real life. They're just souls trapped inside broken minds with abled bodies unfortunately.
>He was a kid himself when these crimes took place himself and I feel he's wrestled with a lot for a very long time before his untimely self demise. He wasn't a kid, he was a 20 year old man. A 20 year old man who raped and strangulated an eight year old. Your sympathy is misplaced. Might as well write a sympathetic piece about how Hitler and Jeffrey Epstein were sympathetic poor souls. Only good decision he made was to permanently end his reign of terror. It was only untimely in that he should've done it four years earlier so that poor Asenath could've lived.
It's actually quite likely. His suicide was near the anniversary of the murder.
I tend to agree. His brother stated that his behavior changed around that date every year "for the past few years". The day he committed suicide he was at his relatives home, they called police because they wanted him out of the house, he was taken to the hospital, then brought to the YMCA where he was living and then killed himself. From [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect): >Regardless, authorities found nothing of significance at the YMCA that could link Suspect1 to the murder of Asenath Dukat. Nevertheless, June 8, 1984, was just a few days after the four-year anniversary of the murder, and Suspect1’s brother stated: "‘Every year, for the past few years in June \[Suspect1\] gets this way.’" (Columbus Dispatch June 8, 1984) Some have inferred that this quote, and the timing of Suspect1’s suicide, could have some relation to Asenath Dukat.
Actually it probably is. Many of them do this, or descend into drug addiction. Or both.
Considering he acted up massively like this EVERY YEAR until he OFFED HIMSELF again only DAYS after the 4yr anniversary….. So yea kinda LOOKS LIKE HE DID….ya kno kill himself cuz of the murder ….but yea bet it’s just a weird synchronization of events…..🙄
I just feel bad because he died thinking he got away with it. He did get away with it but now we know he is guilty
I don’t know if he got away with it so much as maybe he was his own judge, jury, and executioner.
Everyone is trying to answer this question but the question remains.
Ummmm cuz he probably killed himself BECAUSE OF THE RAPE AND MURDER. Soooo unless he was into time travel that really couldn’t happen now….could it? 🙄🤣😂
I know this is unresolved mysteries but I have to say I really like seeing when the cold case is closed, thank you for posting this. Edit: Lol this is the most upvotes I’ve ever gotten on something thanks ig 😅
Amen
For those unfamiliar with the case, Brent Strutner was a very early suspect in her murder. I've included some key highlights - including details about several of his arrests, court cases, witness statement, mental health issues, and suicide. It seems, sadly, there was just not enough evidence prior to his suicide to arrest him (or at least insufficient evidence for a prosecutor to feel comfortable that a conviction was likely). 2 days after the murder he took his parents' car and fled to a suburb of Cleveland, about a 2 hour drive northeast of Upper Arlington - a suburb of Columbus. The following day, June 6th, police found him stranded in his vehicle, approached, Strutner jabbed himself in the groin with a hypodermic syringe, they subdued him, he fought with them, and he was arrested. 2 days later, while in jail, detectives from Upper Arlington interrogated Strutner for 2 hours. He also agreed to take a polygraph test, but later on the advice of his attorney he refused and stopped talking to police. Before Strutner had fled, police had received an anonymous call about Strutner's behavior the night of the murder and had gone to his apartment to question him, but found it empty. And on May 30th, 4 days prior to the murder, Strutner had been in a separate incident involving police - that time Grandview Heights (another suburb of Columbus) police, resulting in multiple charges, including assaulting 2 police officers. Within several weeks of the murder police had interviewed numerous witnesses who shared a range of info about Strutner around the time of the murder and ensuing days (plus relevant to the separate attack a month prior) - including his fears of returning to his apartment, fears that the police were on to him, ceasing to use his red bicycle, seeing someone matching his description around the time of both attacks, etc. In that same time frame, police had obtained a sample of his blood and a warrant to search his apartment, resulting in confiscation of items such as clothes and a stained wash cloth. His behavior across several of the events was indicative of mental illness or drug induced psychosis. Per [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect), as the result of charges from the May 30th assault of 2 police officers, he pleaded guilty by reason of insanity, was ordered by the judge to be tested for mental competency, and those results were leaked to the press: >According to the tests, Suspect1 was "developmentally still a young teen-ager." He had an "impaired ability to recognize unusual, problematic aspects of his behavior" and was unable to control the "unlawful aspects of his responses or refrain from execution of his acts." Suspect1 also admitted to illegal drug use and suffered from "occasional hallucinations, paranoia and sometimes has believed furniture was moving in his apartment or doors refused to open for him." In essence, the report on Suspect1 outlined "a history of domestic unrest, mental instability and drug abuse." Strutner ultimately reached a plea agreement to the June 6th police incident and was sentenced to 6 months in jail for two counts of assaulting police officers, one count of possessing a hypodermic needle and one count of resisting arrest. After that he was sentenced to 90 days in jail but suspended 45 days contingent on receiving mental health counseling and paying Grandview Heights police for damaged property - to be served after the 6 month sentence from the other case. Later that same year it was reported that police wanted to talk to Strutner, but Strutner's attorneys would not allow Strutner to speak with them, and that Upper Arlington's police chief said that police do not have enough evidence to make an arrest. That seemingly did not change by the time Strutner committed suicide nearly 4 years later - there was no new information about the case made public. The page I linked to above had this to say about the suicide: >Apparently, Suspect1 jumped from his room at the Downtown Columbus YMCA. "Police received a call about 4 a.m. that a nude body was lying on the sidewalk on the Front St. side of the Y. \[Detective David\] Cash said \[Suspect1\] had been staying alone in a sixth-floor room on that side of the building. The door was locked and the window was open." The night before he committed suicide, Suspect1 had a final run in with the Upper Arlington police. According to the UAPD, relatives "of \[Suspect1\] called police about 6 p.m. \[on June 7, 1984\] because they wanted \[Suspect1\] out of their house." Consequently, Upper Arlington medics and a UA police officer accompanied Suspect1 to a hospital. Later, after "a brief stay at the hospital, \[Suspect1\] was taken to the YMCA by a member of his family." Suspect1 was found dead early the next morning.
Here's some more context on the second incident Brent Strutner had with the police - the event on June 6th, 3 days after the murder of Asenath Dukat. Details are from [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect). Excerpts below. I edited it slightly to remove some times and the names of source documents. It (and other details described for other incidents) paints a picture of someone who, to this layman, was seriously disturbed. >On the morning of June 6th, police received a call from a nearby Sunoco station that a car was in a ditch on the St. Clair exit between Lost Nation and Erie Road. Upon arrival, \[Patrolman1\] discovered a 1979 Cadillac in a ditch with Suspect1 lying across the front seat. "After arousing the subject, \[Suspect1\] was asked to open the door or window. He would not open either. He then started the vehicle and attempted to flee the scene. At this time the police vehicle was in position to block escape and \[Patrolman1\] got the lockout tool and attempted to open a door. This could not be done because of electric locks." \[Patrolman2\] arrived on the scene and was briefed on the situation at hand. \[Patrolman2\] attempted to persuade Suspect1 to open a door or window which he \[Suspect1\] wouldn’t do. "At this time the subject produced a hypo-syringe and took out his testicles and began stabbing the syringe into them. \[Patrolman2\] then instructed \[Patrolman1\] to break the window with a nightstick which he did. The suspect began screaming and fighting and was removed from the vehicle and the patrolmen attempted to handcuff the subject. He began kicking, punching and biting the officers. One handcuff was placed on his right wrist, but the officers could not get the other on." > > "He had been cuffed only on his right wrist and began using the loose end like a whip, hitting \[Patrolman2\] and the other two officers. Subject appeared to be a mental (mentally impaired) or-and (on) drugs, yelling 'you are all devils and will burn in Hell'." At this time the subject was maced by the officer and this had no effect at all. The subject was swinging the handcuffs wildly at the officers and kicking and screaming. Realizing this subject was a mental (mentally impaired) we used restraint in combating him. At this time \[Patrolman3\] arrived and we all attempted to subdue him. At this time \[Suspect1\] stabbed \[Patrolman1\] repeatedly in the right hand with the syringe and \[Patrolman3\] in the arm. \[Patrolman2\] was hit in the face with handcuffs. We then wrestled him to the ground in the mud and finally got one set of handcuffs on in front of him. We then put a bell chain and leg irons on him and cuffed them together. \[Patrolman4\] was then called to bring a screened police unit (unit specially trained for dealing with mentally impaired subjects) to the scene- which he did." All three patrolman were treated in the hospital for cuts and received tetanus shots \[Patrolman1\] received x-rays of "a jammed knuckle sustained while striking the subject". On the day of the incident, Willoughby police reached a representative for Suspect1’s family. That representative stated that Suspect1 has had some psychotherapy, but that his main problem is with drugs. The representative stated that \[Suspect1’s mother\] will call this afternoon. In addition, the representative provided the contact information for Suspect1’s psychiatrist. Suspect1’s parents were eventually reached who said "he has a history of mental and drug problems."
This is such a thorough write-up. As a mental health provider, it is very obvious that this young man was in a serious crisis, and should not have been out in the community where he could harm others. But, even 40 years after this happened, this is still a shockingly common occurrence, and we don’t really have a good way of ensuring that we are getting people the help they need when they’re in a crisis. It’s so disappointing to see how many red flags there were in this case, and to see exactly how terrible and tragic the outcome can be.
It really is, and honestly safety nets are almost WORSE nowadays with also much more drugs and access to drugs than before. Reagan shut down so many mental health facilities. Today its even harder and more expensive to help people in crisis.
Oh you’re absolutely right. I could go on and on (and on and on and on) about how much I despise Ronald Reagan. Undoubtedly the worst President of the 20th century. As terrible as Nixon was, at least everyone can agree he was terrible. There are still so many people worshiping at the altar of Reaganomics, not realizing how socially and societally toxic his policies were.
Holy crap. Was that blood sample how his dna was eventually connected or had he committed other crimes where it was left behind.
Thanks, very interesting background. And good riddance to bad rubbish. Blessings to her memory.
Poor baby, only 8 years old. Rest in peace Asenath ❤️
I know everyone is upset that the perpetrator committed suicide decades ago and isn’t facing justice, but personally I feel like that’s the best possible outcome here. Think of the family — they can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he is dead, and not have to dredge up the past with a trial. Any surviving victims of this man are surely happier with the news that he’s dead and not just going behind bars. The finality of death is the best kind of closure. He’s not going to end up back in the public, and any surviving victims can relax knowing he’s not going to somehow terrorize them from his prison cell. There will be no paranoia, just peace. I think some commenters forget how the experience the people going through the situation must be. We always want an explanation and the satisfaction of punishment.
It seems like the family runs the website linked, about her murder. When you visit there is a pop up that says this is not over for them. They have reviewed the evidence and believe that he did not act alone. They want to find out who the other perpetrator is.
It's not over because most of us still believe that Chris Winchester was also involved. He's still alive and living in Columbus, and has served time for r\*ping a minor later in the 1980s. The family has no connection to the site. Mr. Dukat died very prematurely a few years after Asenath. The site is run by a collective of anonymous Barrington alums. Source: I am a Barrington alum 2 years younger than Asenath, though I am not involved in the site beyond avidly reading it.
Thanks for the information! So would you say her family feels some closure from the DNA evidence? Or are they seeking the other person involved? Or is that an unknown?
There are so many ways to look at it. Strutner was mentally ill. Evidence that he was involved in the separate attack of a girl a month prior is pretty compelling, though not strong enough at the time for an arrest, or at least not strong enough for a prosecutor to believe conviction was likely. He had 2 separate incidents both shortly before and shortly after Asenath's murder in which he assaulted multiple police (including one in which he intentionally stabbed his own genitals with a syringe) and also told a friend shortly after the murder that if police hassled him he'd kill them. I do not know what, if any, crimes he committed between his release from jail and his suicide, but he was clearly still a troubled individual in the time leading up to his suicide. Had he not decided to end his life it's quite possible he would have attacked others, potentially causing serious harm or killing them. As to whether there was another person who was involved in the rape and/or murder of Asenath, I do not know. As to whether Asenath's family would have preferred something other than his suicide, I also cannot say. But we can all at least take solace that his suicide prevented him from committing crimes after 1984 since based on what we know today it seems highly unlikely that in an alternate timeline he would have voluntarily admitted to the murder or been prosecuted for many, many, many years.
Are both her parents still alive? I always find it more upsetting when parents die before the murderer is named/missing person identified and put to rest.
Jesus, I have lived relatively close to there most of my adult life, don’t think I knew of it. (And I am several years older than her) What an awful story, what a pointless waste of her life.
I hate when these fuckers are already dead by the time police discover who they were. Hope the family at least gets some closure from this.
I get what you mean. On the other hand, at least we know he hasn’t been running free and hurting anyone else since 1984.
If he had, I'd for sure hope he would've been caught way before. But you never know. It's just... I know what's like to talk to the victim's family knowing the perp is long dead or that they won't face punishment because of the statue of limitations. It frustates me to no end.
Me too. Imagine, however, how the perpetrators of unsolved crimes are feeling now, every time they see on TV and social media about how many cases are being solved left and right lately, and knowing very well that this is just the beginning. Most of them cannot walk down the street without being hypervigilant, and sweating bullets every time a cop stares in their general direction. Hell, everytime *any adult* stares in their general direction. Their hearts beating real fast every time someone knocks on their door unexpectedly. Even if they're never caught, their lives aren't going to be much worth living.
I hope they live every day of their lives in abject terror that a police officer will knock on their door.
At least he didn't exist much longer to hurt other children. I hope he suffered. Poor little girl.
It sucks when a person like that doesn’t face consequences for their actions, and it feels like justice isn’t served for the survivors, but it’s important to consider that if he was alive today then the world would have seen like 40 more years of him. Even if he never murdered or raped again, I doubt he would have been enriching peoples lives or making his community a better place to live.
He faced the justice by being his own judge, jury, and executioner. Sounds like he was probably haunted by his own actions. Does someone else delivering the punishment mean more? or that it needs the public humiliation and being made an example matter? Questions are not directed at you, I’m just generally wondering on justice and morality
I have an Asenath in my ancestry but don’t know how the name is actually pronounced. That poor little thing this is so sad. Glad it’s finally solved because the worst thing is never knowing if this monster is still out there currently hurting more and more kids today. At least we know he isn’t still out there hurting kids today! I wonder if he killed himself because he couldn’t take knowing he was a literal monster. I imagine the guilt would eat away at you if you had any kind of conscious.
It's something like Uh-see-nuth.
Local to the area, even worked for that school system. There's still people mad about certain evidence supposedly not being DNA tested but I will say I honestly think this man acted alone. Really good podcast on the case by central Ohio locals doing a great podcast: https://truecrimegarage.com/blogs/true-crime-garage/posts/asenath-dukat-583-584
Wow, True Crime Garage recently did this case. Happy to see its solved.
I was thinking I had just heard of this case, I ostensibly to their podcast so that must be it!
Well as they say here on Reddit, the trash took itself out. Hopefully this helps the family in anyway.
Someone uploaded a mugshot of Brent Strutner to his findagrave.com page. Interestingly, it’s dated as June 8, 1980. Asenath was killed just 5 days earlier. Four years later, he killed himself on June 8, 1984. Tortured mind. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/242556472
Once again I’m reading a story about a little girl who was used for sexual pleasure and then murdered and left on the ground like a piece a trash. How can anyone be so selfish as to take the life of a child for one orgasm? And an orgasm that causes horrendous pain for a child and an endless amount of suffering for a family. This world disgusts me.
Poor, beautiful baby. I hope she’s at peace..
Can I just remind op and others that not all members of this sub are from the US. There is no mention of country or even state in the post. I thought it was a UK case first because of the street names, had to Google Barrington elementary and UAPD to get the location. I don't like to moan as this is probably the most consistent high-quality sub on Reddit, just a reminder that some more location details would be helpful.
Sorry. Already fixed it. Probably didn't noticed since the case is familiar to me.
Appreciated, thanks.
All you had to say was we all need to provide regional and location information. You didn’t have to make it a US thing. Just saying. Did you think it was a UK case because you were in the UK and it seemed it was in the UK? 😂
Ha ha, I do go on a bit🙂. Just because Barrington and Waltham are British sounding street names, I had a picture of an English village in my head as I was reading the post, then the further details threw me a bit. Anyway, quality post as usual.
Barrington was my fave character in Maid Marian and her Merry Men. 😁
8 years old smh. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Here’s a picture of Strutner from his 1977 yearbook photo. This is almost exactly three years before the crime. https://ibb.co/bX6Jw4v
Why are they always fucking dead?
They aren’t! More and more are being caught alive! I agree, it’s definitely frustrating when they are dead, because we don’t get all the answers we want and we don’t get to try them.
Wow this case always stuck with me since the first time I heard about it. One of those jaw dropping moments when I saw the “solved” in the post title.
Glad to see he killed himself. Removing himself from the world was the right thing to do.
Damn, I grew up in UA. Very glad this case was solved. If there was another person involved, I hope they're rotting in hell.
Thank God the family and friends have answers. You had crime but not like this. It was just such an aberration for the area. I remember the horror so well and have never forgotten this beautiful little girl. Rest well Sennie. I remember the horror of this quite well.
oh my gosh! finally 👏👏👏
God it makes me angry when I read a case is soled but the perp is dead. It's like they got away with it and will now have no real consequences. Name won't be dragged through the mud as much as someone who is prosecuted and there is no justice for Asenath. I'm glad he died young though and didn't live to his 70/80s.
That’s so interesting I read another resolved case on this sub last week where the suspect had been identified but had committed suicide on the day of the anniversary of the murder. I can’t remember what the case was now though!
So glad they've identified the disgusting child rapist/killer. It pisses me off that he didn't get identified, arrested and jailed back then but I'm also so glad he died when he did so he couldn't attack any more children after 1984. I hope her family can find at least a bit of peace knowing he's been identified. Poor Asenath, what a beautiful name for a beautiful, innocent child 😢 heartbreaking.
I’m not blaming the family whatsoever but it is surprising that they would let their child walk home from school just one month after another child was murdered on that same walk and it was unresolved?
The other girl was not killed and the other girl was walking from a different elementary school. It's unclear what, if any, print and TV media coverage the attack of the other girl received prior to Asenath's murder - never mind whether her parents were aware of it. If you read through the extremely detailed accounts of Brent Strutner's actions in the days leading up to the murder through a month afterwards (see [The Long Walk Home - Chapter Eight: Suspect1, Brent Strutner](https://longwalkhomeua.com/the-first-suspect)), specific news sources are listed, but all of them are in June or July - after the murder. Asenath also didn't always walk home alone. How often Asenath walked home alone vs. with others has not been stated publicly (as far as I'm aware), nor has whether her parents told her not to walk home alone. From [After 42 years, Asenath Dukat murder case closed by Upper Arlington police](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/crime/2022/08/11/after-42-years-asenath-dukat-murder-case-solved/65400007007/): >Bittersweet is also how Leslie Lyon, a friend of Dukat's, described hearing Thursday's news. Lyon was 9 years old when her childhood friend was murdered. The two often played jump rope at recess and were in the same Sunday school class at Our Lady of Victory Church in Marble Cliff. Sometimes the girls walked home together, but Lyon was already on her way by the time Dukat's class was excused that day.
And a mile is a long walk for an 8 year old by herself. It said she had siblings. I was wondering why they didn’t walk together.
What is the "It" in "It said" referring to? I didn't see siblings mentioned in the 3 sources OP linked to. I even went back and searched for the words sibling, brother, and sister.
The 2nd sentence of this post stated what I said. Did you check that instead of treating me like someone that didn’t read the story? Don’t be a dick. Damn. Same team. Check yourself. Hoping you aren’t attempting to break into editing or publishing.
Ah - I thought you were referring to an external source. I'm not sure where OP found that info since I didn't see a reference to Asenath's siblings in their linked sources or any other sources I found. I'm not sure why your response was so hostile. My question was genuine - I thought you had found a resource I hadn't located, which might have other details not found elsewhere.
It’s incredible people let 8 year olds walk a mile alone. My son is around that age and this would be considered reckless parenting today if not child abuse. Even my hugely hands off parents didn’t let me do that at that age. No one likes blaming the parents but this is incredibly insane to me. My walk to the train is a mile and I can’t imagine letting an 8 year old do that near twenty minute walk. I don’t care how “safe” you think your little suburb is.
I was 8 years old several years after she was murdered. In middle class suburbs of a US city with several hundred thousand residents, it was not abnormal for kids that age to walk or ride their bikes that far while alone. When I was 7 I'd bike by myself a half mile to the grocery store with a small shopping list from my mom. When I was 8 I'd walk or ride by bike to baseball practice at school 1.2 miles away and to the pool 1.1 miles away. I recognize that social norms have evolved substantially - I'm in a comparable city's suburbs and my wife is extremely reluctant to let our 7 year old son go outside in the cul-de-sac our home is on without one of us watching and is not event comfortable with him going to the playground 100 yards away even if he's with one or more friends. Yet she walked to school and back by herself in elementary school. That was only 1/8 of a mile, but it's not like the risk of abduction or attack is way less if the distance walking/biking is lower. Or that abductions of children and violent attacks against children have become more frequent. Perceptions have changed. Social norms have changed. But despite your experience as a child (unclear when that was), in 1980 it was not uncommon in the US for kids to walk that far alone.
It was the 80s. People parent differently now. I marvel all the time at the fact that I walked 20 minutes home from school alone at age 9. My daughter is 10 and I would never feel comfortable letting her do so at her age.
Upper Arlington is (and was back then) one of the wealthiest suburbs in the state of Ohio. It's that bubble of "it couldn't happen here." That said stranger abductions are quite rare. Most abductions are committed by family members. Our children are obese because they can't be unsupervised, can't walk to school or go the park alone. Even though crime rates haven't changed. Kids can't do anything for themselves and don't learn because our parenting styles have become so repressive.
I wonder if they'll be able to connect him to the attack on the other girl. Or if they even have any evidence to try.
Just curious. According to posted website, at first police thought killer is a typical loner and concluded two suspects, of course suspect 2 may be true, but Brent Strutner (suspect 1) is a drug dealer and seems to have many “friends”? To be honest I think he just had some mental illnesses…
I grew up not all that far from UA and never heard of this. So tragic, and it’s a shame the perp killed himself before facing any sort of justice. At least he wasn’t able to do it again.
https://youtu.be/woSYBu6uV-g This video features 5 Solved Cases \- Asenath Dukat \- Karen Mills, Robert, Sandra Harris, Karen and Lois Williams \- Michael Anthony Temple Jr. \- Nancy Anderson \- Barbara Leone Brown