Section: NEWS LOCAL & NATIONAL

Page: O1C

Illustration: Photo

Byline: By Bruce Cadwaflader Dispatch Police Reporter

The record number of homicides this year has left Columbus police with more unsolved cases than usual.

Police believe many of the 36 slayings in which no one has been arrested are drug-related. In many cases, no one saw the slaying. At least three of the victims were from out of town.

The Dispatch asked homicide detectives to open their files on unsolved slayings in hopes of prompting informants to come forward.

Police said cash rewards are possible for information leading to an arrest and conviction in any of these cases and that the names of informants can be kept confidential.

The cases:

Jan. 4: In the city's third slaying of the year, Hassan Goudy, 18, of 1403 Summit St., was shot and killed as he and two juveniles walked onto a back porch of his home. Police suspect that drug dealers from Detroit were aiming for one of the juveniles because of a drug debt.

Jan. 7: The body of Kareem Battles, 18, a New York native, was found inside a vacant house at 1400 Summit St. He had been shot numerous times in the head and neck. Battles was a suspected crack cocaine dealer in the Short North and reportedly had been involved in a territorial dispute with drug dealers from Indiana. He had lived in Columbus about one year.

Jan.15: Tommy E. Cooper, 17, of Bulen Avenue, and Peggy Harris, 28, of 879 E. Mound St., were found shot to death outside Harris^t apartment. Cooper was shot in the back of the head, and Harris was shot in the left cheek. Police believe Cooper was selling cocaine from the apartment.

Jan.19: Juan Broomfield, 24, of 996 Rich St., was shot and killed in a parking lot next to 1409 E. Livingston Ave. by one of three men who approached him as he parked his car. Police believe the men were involved in an earlier dispute with Broomfield.

Jan.20: In the city's only triple homicide of this year, Robert L. VanSickle, 56, his bed-ridden wife,

Marilyn, 55, and her live-in caretaker, Kathleen Taylor, 27, were found dead of multiple gunshot wounds inside the VanSickle home at 2736 Steele Ave. Detectives found 9 pounds of cocaine in the house.

Jan.27: The body of Jerry Dailey, 18, of 1160 E. 23rd Ave., was found in a field on the east side of 1498 E. 22nd Ave. Police said he was involved in drug dealing and was a cocaine user. He was shot in the chest with a .32-caliber pistol.

Feb. 5: Willie Reggins, 73, was hit in the back of the head by a bullet that traveled through the rear window of his car as he drove on Wilson Avenue near Oak Street. Evidence against one person has been reviewed by Franklin County prosecutors, but no charges have been filed.

Feb.15: The body of Learin E. Jones, 37, a former state worker who was legally blind, was found on the floor of her living room at 2507 Navarre Rd.. She had been shot three times. A back window of the house was broken, and a telephone receiver was the only item missing.

Feb.22: The bodies of Christopher Taylor, 32, and his girlfriend, Carolyn Battle, 28, were found in the bedroom of their home at 1814 Gault St. They had been shot numerous times. Several 9mm shell casings were near the bodies. Police believe the shootings were drug-related and possibly a "drug hit" by someone upset that Taylor, indicted earlier for drug dealing, had ratted on a drug kingpin.

Feb.25: Howard William Hills, 28, of 971 Howard St., was killed when he drove into the Windsor

Terrace apartment complex. He told a relative he was going to see a friend at 1078 Chittenden Ave.

He was met outside by three young men. Following a discussion, one fired at Hills with a .22-caliber

pistol. Hills died two days later.

Feb.26: Jeffrey Alexander, 33, of 1029 F. 19th Ave., was killed when he and a girlfriend drove to

Windsor Terrace to buy crack cocaine. Four young men approached Alexander's car in front of 1078

Chittenden Ave., a drug deal transpired, and one of the youths fired several shots at the car, striking

Alexander once in the chest.

March 18: Frank Finch Jr., 20, was found shot to death in his sparsely furuished house at 426 5. Ohio Ave. Police believe it was a crack house and Finch died during a robbery.

March28: The body of Georgia Wolf, 51, of 5573 Birchland Court, was found with stab wounds in her apartment after she failed to show up for work at Riverside Methodist Hospitals. She had been stabbed seven times, and her car was found in another apartment complex.

April 6: Leonard Woodfork, 19, of 367 N. Garfield Ave., was shot three times in the parking lot of

Jay Dee's Lounge, 860 N. Cassady Ave., when he and a relative got into a fight with several others.

Woodfork died a week later.

May 20: The body of Willette Sheppard, 25, of 1445 F. Broad St., was found naked in a trash bin at the rear of 1396 Fields Ave. She was wrapped in pieces of fabric and had been beaten, resulting in multiple skull fractures. She was a prostitute.

May 21: Robert B. Johnson, 22, of 129 F. 7th Ave., was at Club Alexander's at 1805 F. Main St. when a fight broke out. Johnson went outside, where the fight continued. He was shot once in the chest, and another patron was shot in the left arm. Johnson died at the scene.

May 23: Glenda Christian, 28, of Nashville, Tenn., died after she was shot several times in the head inside a room of the Motel 6 at 1289 E. Dublin-Granville Rd. She had come to Columbus with her husband, Larry, who has been charged with promoting his wife as a prostitute.

May24: The body of Elwyn Waruer, 58, of 4031 Forest Edge Dr., was found inside his Northeast Side duplex. He had been stabbed. A rear kitchen door was unlocked. Warner was an employee of

the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services.

June 8: Constance Dennis, 34, of 1413 Granville St., was found dead of a gunshot wound in the chest. She had been dead for more than four days. Police said Dennis used crack cocaine and traded sex for drugs.

June 20: Phillip Siemer, 44, of3013 Parkside Dr., was shot in the head on the lot of a BP service station at 3265 E. Broad St. after talking to two men. Police said witnesses saw the men get in their car, circle around and fire shots at Siemer and a companion. Rewards of up to 520,000 have been offered.

June 22: Jodie Fox, 33, of 478 Oakwood Ave., was killed when someone opened fire after she left an illegal after-hours bar at 473 Lilley Ave., where she had been buying drugs. Another woman also was shot.

June 23: Danny Dolin, 22, of Bucyrus, Ohio, was killed when he came to Columbus to buy crack cocaine. He and a friend drove to Windsor Terrace, and Dolin was shot in the back at Vesta and Isabel streets as he tried to flee drug dealers who may have decided to rob him.

July 13: The body of Torah Bernsdorl, 44, was found in her apartment at 326 Forest St. She had been strangled, and had been dead for some time. Her apartment was in disarray, and the contents of her purse had been strewn about.

July20: Donald Lightner, 30, of 1766 Zettler Rd., was killed at Zettler and Scottwood roads when the car he was riding in came upon a man on foot. The pedestrian tried to talk to Lightner, but Lightner ignored him. The man fired several shots into the car, killing Lightner.

July 7: Kenneth W. French, 39, of 1044 Loretta Ave., died in a house fire that may have been set by drug dealers who were threatened by his anti-drug crusades.

Aug. 6: The body of Nancy Leslie, 44, of 3075 Cooper Bluff Dr., was found in her bed, her hands and feet bound with tape. She had been stabbed in the heart. A sliding glass door had been taken from its track. Police are comparing this death to the death of Georgia Wolf.

Aug. 6: The body of Ronald Wingo, 26, was found wrapped in a blanket in a closet in his apartment at 1572 E. Main St. He had been stabbed to death, and his car and television had been taken.

Aug.15: Omanoff Moreau, 29, of 2466 Hiawatha Ave., was shot as he sat on a couch at 1051 Republic Ave. His death may be linked to the death of Kenneth French. Detectives said a man burst into the room and called Morean by name before killing him.

Aug.18: Willie H. Mack, 39, was found beaten to death inside his rented house at 663 Oakwood Ave. Neighbors said there were many visitors to the suspected drug house.

Aug.27: Jerry C. Watts, 39, of 3891 Briggs Rd., was killed by a shotgun blast through his front door after he heard someone kicking at it. Police said it could have been burglars or someone who wanted to harm someone in the Watts house.

Sept. 11: Arthur Bradley Jr., 22, of 70 1/2 N. 22nd St., was shot at Fair and Champion avenues early in the morning as he walked down the street. He died two hours later at Grant Medical Center.

Sept.14: Mark Gostel, 32, of 1452 Holton Rd., Grove City, was shot several times during a confrontation with two men near 776 Pierce Dr. He died yesterday.

Caption: Gary Sussman/Dispatch

Tami Cousino, girlfriend of the 98th slaying victim, sits in a police cruiser.

Gary Sussman/Dispatch

Homicide detective Michael See interviewed the 98th homicide victim's girlfriend, Tami Cousino, sitting in the back seat of the cruiser at Mount Calvary and Mound streets yesterday. The victim's car is in the background.