September 12, 2022 • 19 mins
This episode takes us to Toledo, Ohio for the 1982 murder of Dana Rosendale.
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All music by Kai Engel licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For more info, please visit https://www.kai-engel.com/.
Produced, written, edited, and hosted by Steve from Great Lakes True Crime.
SOURCES:
https://www.nbc.com/dateline/video/return-to-the-lonely-road/4130525
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/woman-gets-probation-for-threats-following-russell-adkins-sentencing/article_2861bee6-d68a-11e6-b0fb-dbeb8665f1a1.html
https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Wood-County-Man-Free-From-Prison-After-Murder-Conviction-Vacated--487272551.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/man-charged-with-murder-in-1982-cold-case/article_2e157fc8-b88f-11e4-a539-bbf89e660bdb.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/hung-jury-in-northwood-murder-case/article_73b4eeb2-c4fd-11e5-9723-7f5a0eb2e882.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/womans-body-exhumed-for-investigation-for-2nd-time/article_c2a47b0a-0332-11e6-9c46-476c5829157c.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/adkins-gets-life-sentence-in-1982-cold-case-murder/article_1317cd1a-4d09-11e6-8ebe-1796c53bee08.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/adkins-goes-free-ohio-supreme-court-declines-to-hear-murder-case-appeal/article_9e65579e-d807-11e8-96cb-07f3a9f5a52e.html
Buy Me Coffee (please!) - https://paypal.me/greatlakestruecrime
Website - www.greatlakestruecrime.net
TwitterX - https://twitter.com/greatlakescrime
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/greatlakescrime
**Five-star reviews really help and are always appreciated**
All music by Kai Engel licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For more info, please visit https://www.kai-engel.com/.
Produced, written, edited, and hosted by Steve from Great Lakes True Crime.
SOURCES:
https://www.nbc.com/dateline/video/return-to-the-lonely-road/4130525
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/woman-gets-probation-for-threats-following-russell-adkins-sentencing/article_2861bee6-d68a-11e6-b0fb-dbeb8665f1a1.html
https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Wood-County-Man-Free-From-Prison-After-Murder-Conviction-Vacated--487272551.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/man-charged-with-murder-in-1982-cold-case/article_2e157fc8-b88f-11e4-a539-bbf89e660bdb.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/hung-jury-in-northwood-murder-case/article_73b4eeb2-c4fd-11e5-9723-7f5a0eb2e882.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/womans-body-exhumed-for-investigation-for-2nd-time/article_c2a47b0a-0332-11e6-9c46-476c5829157c.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/adkins-gets-life-sentence-in-1982-cold-case-murder/article_1317cd1a-4d09-11e6-8ebe-1796c53bee08.html
https://www.sent-trib.com/news/adkins-goes-free-ohio-supreme-court-declines-to-hear-murder-case-appeal/article_9e65579e-d807-11e8-96cb-07f3a9f5a52e.html
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Early in the morning on September fifth, nineteen eighty two, police in northwest
Ohio were notified about an unconscious womanfound lying in front of a house on
the east side of the city ofToledo. The woman was later identified as
nineteen year old Dana Rosendale, anew mother and student at Owen's Community College.
(00:20):
The call for assistance came at threethirty two a m. That morning,
when a man knocked on the doorof a house across the street and
asked that they called for police andan ambulance. The man said he had
spotted the woman laying there out ofhis peripheral vision as he drove his car
down the street. On September eleventh, nineteen eighty two. Six days later,
(00:43):
Dana Rosendale died at a local hospital, and the subsequent autopsy revealed she
died from blunt force trauma to theright side of the head. The cause
of the death was rolled undetermined.From the south shore of Lake Erie,
This is Great Lake's True Crime.Nineteen year old Dana Rosendale was a new
(01:21):
mother and college student who went outfor a night of dancing at a local
nightclub called the Southside Roxy with herbest friend, also named Roxy, but
you met an awful fate that night. In nineteen eighty two. As with
many cases like this, attention wasinitially focused on Toby, Dana's boyfriend at
(01:42):
the time and the father of herchild. The relationship was described by those
who knew Dana as turbulent, withvarious accusations of some violence between the two.
Suffice to say, Toby was notwell liked by Dana's family and friends.
He was four years older than herand a little rough around the edges.
(02:05):
However, he always denied having anythingto do with the murder, insisting
he had been home sleeping that nightafter a long day at work. He
also claims the couple planned to getmarried one day. Toby has said that
there was some illegal activity occurring atthe nightclub that Dana was at that night,
including prostitution, illegal drugs, andafter hours parties. He shared a
(02:30):
theory with police that perhaps Dana gotmixed up was someone she shouldn't have at
the club. Dana's friend, Roxy, however, said that whatever foul play
Dana may have met that night didnot happen at the club. She was
with Dana the entire night. Roxyalso said that Dana was pretty intoxicated,
(02:50):
and the two stayed out so latethat they missed the last city bus that
could have taken them home. Sothe club bouncer, who Roxy knew socially
from frequenting the club, agreed togive the two ride home. He dropped
off Roxy first at her house inMichigan. The name of that bouncer was
Russell Adkins, a man police hadalready been familiar with. Adkins was the
(03:16):
man who called nine one one thatnight and said he found Dana's body on
the side of that residential street inToledo. The problem with that coincidence is
that when he made the initial report, Adkins said the body he discovered was
a stranger, not someone that hehad just given a ride to. When
(03:36):
asked about that discrepancy, Adkins saidhe claimed the body belonged to a stranger
because he didn't want any trouble withpolice, as he was already on parole.
He had just served a stint inprison for receiving stolen property. So
upon this questioning, Adkins said hewould clear everything up with police and give
them the whole story of what happenedthat night. He said that wild driving
(04:00):
Dana home, he turned a cornerand the car engine revved very loudly,
and this sudden jolt from whatever causedit having to make Dana fall out of
the car door, causing her tohit her head on the pavement, and
that's what caused the massive head wound. Police in the coroner were skeptical of
this story, and the death wasruled undetermined by the coroner. Adding to
(04:26):
the skepticism was that a few daysafter Dana suffered her injuries, a police
detective found the thick part of apool queue with blood on it on the
street that Dana's body was found on. This was after the Lucas County Coroner
had contacted the police and expressed concernthat Danas should have exhibited more trauma if
(04:46):
she had indeed fallen from a movingcar as purported. But this story is
not only about Dana Rosendale. It'sa story of perseverance. It's a story
of that one month old baby thatDana had when she died. Brittany's Stork
grew up in the Toledo suburb ofOregon, Ohio, on the shores of
(05:06):
Lake Erie's Mammy Bay near Toledo.She grew up feeling loved feeling safe,
but without ever having known her biologicalmother. That wasn't much of an issue
for Brittany until one day when herkindergarten teacher asked her a question. She
asked her how her mom died.Brittany was confused and terrified. When she
(05:29):
came home from school that day,she asked her mom what her teacher was
talking about. It was that kindergartenday that Brittany learned the person she called
mom was actually her grandmother and thather biological mother died at the age of
nineteen. She was told it wasa car accident. As Brittany grew older,
(05:50):
though, she started piecing together bitsof information about her mother and knew
that something about Dana's death wasn't addingup when she asked questions. No one
would talk to her about it,but Brittany knew that there was part of
the story that was missing. Growingup in the late eighties and early nineties,
Brittany didn't have the benefit of Googlelike we have today. Heck,
(06:14):
she didn't even have Infoseek like Iused back in the day. In the
seventh grade, however, Brittany learnedabout the magic of a technology known as
microfilm she discovered that newspaper archives werekept at the local library on microfilm,
and from that day forward, Brittanyspent lots of time at the libraries searching
(06:34):
those archives. First she found Dana'sobituary, Then she found an article with
the headline quote nineteen year old foundon road dead. From there, she
found more articles about her mother's batteredbody having been discovered along that street.
She also saw that Dana's death wasruled undetermined by the Lucas County corner who
(06:58):
couldn't rule out foul play. SoBrittany was outraged when she discovered this information.
She was angry that everyone close toher had lied to her, or
at best it withheld the truth.So the thirteen year old Dana angrily confronted
her father, who had had thatturbulent relationship with her mother at the time
of Dana's death. She wanted thetruth, but Toby said she still wasn't
(07:23):
ready to hear it. Maybe hewasn't ready to talk about it, who
knows. On that Labor Day weekendin nineteen eighty two, Dana's older sister,
Deb had been camping with her familywhen Deb received word that Dana had
been found on the side of thestreet, eight miles from the dance club
where she had been that night.She was in critical condition. Deb of
(07:46):
course, raced home from the campingtrip. Initially, it wasn't clear if
Dana had been hit by a car, thrown from a vehicle, or if
something else caused her severe head injury. In any case, though Dana was
taken to the hospital unconscious with aseverely swollen face. Detectives began asking questions
(08:07):
at the hospital, and Dana's boyfriend, Toby, wanted nothing to do with
the investigation, although he did eventuallyrelent and cooperate to some degree. Police
were certainly interested in Toby, notonly because the boyfriend is always a suspect,
but because Dana and Toby had thatvollatle on again, off again relationship.
(08:31):
Six days after being taken to thehospital, Dana died. Her sister,
Debbed, didn't believe that Dana's deathwas an accident, and police seemed
to agree with her. Dana hadvirtually no other injuries other than the severe
head trauma. Police in the coronerasserted that someone who had been in a
(08:52):
serious auto accident would normally have someother significant injuries. In fact, a
paramedic on the scene said he hadworked hundreds of vehicle related accidents and had
never seen someone with massive head traumain one spot but nothing else. So
detectives investigated, but they came upempty. It was obvious that she had
(09:13):
not been hit by a car,but it was not obvious what did happen.
There was little evidence to go onback in nineteen eighty two, of
course, there were no cell phonevideos, no ring doorbells, and no
DNA testing. After a few monthswith no solid leads, the investigation slowed
(09:33):
down. His new cases took priority. Fast forward a couple decades, all
the way to twenty oh six.In fact, Brittany was now an adult
and was serving jury duty in theLucas County Court of Common Police when she
was overcome with a sudden urge tofind out what happened to her mother.
(09:54):
On lunch break, while still servingjury duty, Britney walked into the Lucas
County Prosecutor's office and said that hermother had been murdered and she wanted answers
after all these years. Because Dana'sbody was actually found in neighboring Wood County,
just over the County line. Brittanywas given contact information for investigator in
(10:16):
the Wood County Prosecutor's office in BowlingGreen, Ohio. The investigator Wood County
seemed less than interested in helping,though, so next up, Brittany Stork
walked into the police department in thecity of Northwood where Dana was killed and
demanded to speak with the police chiefabout her mother's murder. A detective promised
(10:39):
to look into it, but shegot nowhere with that detective either. Time
passed by, first months and thenyears with still no answers for Brittany,
who eventually got married and had kidsof her own. It seemed like she
may never find the answers she hadbeen so fervently looking for. In a
(11:00):
minute, though, we'll find outhow all that changed. In a very
odd coincidence, one random day,Brittany found herself eating in the same restaurant
as the original detective who worked onthe case of Dana's death decades earlier.
He was with his wife when Brittanywent over and introduced herself. When she
(11:22):
explained the brick walls she was runninginto and trying to find the truth about
her mom, the detective who wasthen retired urged her to keep pushing and
not give up. He said that'sthe only way to reinvigorate a cold case
like this, so she did justthat. Brittany started calling that investigator at
(11:43):
the Wood County Prosecutor's office every weekasking for updates. After a while,
he started showing some interest in thecase and followed up on the phone calls,
even though for a long time theupdates were essentially sorry, still nothing
new. Fortunately, by this time, which was thirty years after the murder,
much of the evidence was gone,having been discarded at some point over
(12:07):
the years. In twenty thirteen,Dana Rosendale's body was exhoomed upon Brittany's request,
and an examination revealed that the blunttrauma injuries were a result of continuous
beating rather than a single accidental fall. The coroner changed the ruling of Dana's
(12:28):
death from undetermined to homicide. RussellAdkins, that bar bouncer who gave the
girls a riant home, was fiftysix years old at the time, and
he was charged with Dana's murder.He was arrested without incident by the US
Marshals in twenty fifteen and indicted bythe Wood County Prosecutor. Despite the best
(12:52):
efforts of the defense attorneys to havethe case dismissed, Adkins went on trial
for murder in twenty fifteen. InJanuary twenty sixteen, after more than seven
hours of deliberations, the jury reportedthat their deliberations had concluded they could not
reach a unanimous decision on adkins guiltor innocence, and with a hung jury,
(13:16):
the case remained unresolved and Adkins remainedin custody at the Wood County Jail
on a five hundred thousand dollars bond. The prosecution did not give up,
however. In April twenty sixteen,Dana's body was once again exhumed from its
resting place in Bloom Chapel Cemetery nearBairdstown, Ohio, and re examined.
(13:41):
Detectives from the Northwood Police Department andmembers of the Wood County Prosecutor's Office were
present as the casket was brought upout of the ground. Members of Dana's
family, including Brittany, touched andkissed the casket before it was transported from
the scene. The remains were takento the Lucas County Coroner's Office for evaluation.
(14:05):
Eventually, at the age of fiftyseven, Adkins was retried in Wood
County Common Pleas Court for Dana's murderin July twenty sixteen, after thirty four
years in two trials, he wasfound guilty and sentenced to fifteen years to
life in prison for his crime.He hasn't shown any remorse for the last
(14:28):
thirty three years. Dana's sister debtold the media outside the courtroom right after
the verdict was pronounced. I alwaysknew she was murdered. I never thought
it was an accident. Never.In the second trial, prosecution argued that
Adkins had killed Dana by beating herwith a portion of a pool queue.
(14:52):
Adkins had been known to have kepta poll queue in his vehicle at the
time, and as you'll recall,a pool que was found near the scene
in nineteen eighty two. The sagadid not end there, however. In
July twenty eighteen, the Ohio sixthDistrict Court of Appeals vacated atkins twenty sixteen
(15:13):
conviction for the murder of Dana.The appellate court basically said that too much
time had passed between the murder andthe prosecution. Wood County prosecutor Paul Dobson
vowed to appeal that ruling to theOhio Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court
declined to hear the appeal, sothe decision by the Supreme Court effectively ended
(15:37):
the case. Adkins has been quitted, set free, and cannot be retried
for Dana's murder. That must beincredibly frustrating for Dana's family and loved ones.
And there's still more to the story. In July twenty sixteen, a
friend of Adkins named ROBERTA. Axtelwas arrested for threatening Brittany on a social
(16:02):
media page. Axtel admitted to postingthe message on a Facebook group called Free
Russ Adkins Now, and pleaded guiltyto one count of retaliation, a third
degree felony. Several other charges weredismissed as part of the agreement. Before
sentencing Axtell, judge Reeve Kelsey saidthe victim of her threatening message suffered quote
(16:26):
serious psychological harm. He ordered Axtellto complete three hundred hours of community service
and pay a one thousand dollars fineplus court costs, among other conditions.
He suspended a three year of prisonsentence. Dana Rosendale is buried at Bloom
(16:47):
Chapel Cemetery in bloom Township, Ohio. She would have turned sixty years old
on October thirtieth, twenty twenty two. And that's all for this episode of
Great Lakes True Crime. A bigthank you to show supporter Sarah and others
who made a donation through our websiteat podpage dot com slash Great Lakes True
(17:08):
Crime. Also many thanks to thosewho recently left five star reviews on their
podcast app. If you haven't lefta five star review, I could really
use your help as it helps getthe word out about the show. Now
let's do a real quick streaming review. I recently call the six part mini
series called Lies and Deceit on Netflix. It's actually a show from Spain that
(17:34):
is dubbed into English. Although Ilike to watch shows in their original languages
and watch the subtitles and what's interestingto me, I will turn up the
volume even if I'm reading subtitles ifI can't hear a show. I'm not
sure why, but I do.Anyways. This is a show about a
doctor who goes out on a datewith a school teacher who happens to be
(17:59):
his son's teach. After the date. The woman can't completely remember everything that
happened, but as she starts piecingthings together, she realizes in her mind
that she was raped by the manthat she went out with, and it
goes on from there. You beginto see where the truth is. Of
course, he denies it, butit's all sorted out in the end.
(18:22):
And it's very well produced, show, very good, and it's called Lies
and Deceit. It's on Netflix.I would recommend that one. As a
reminder, you can follow us onFacebook and Twitter just search for Great Lakes
True Crime. You can also checkout links in the show notes for our
social media handles, the web address, and the show merchandise page. It
(18:45):
is not too early to start buyingthose gifts for the true true crime lover
in your life. For Great LakesTrue Crime. This has been Steve,
You're host and producer. Thanks forlistening. By Indian contributor and the patter
painter Verntner and put Up Put Indiacontributor and put Matter and putting
Early in the morning on September fifth, nineteen eighty two, police in northwest
Ohio were notified about an unconscious womanfound lying in front of a house on
the east side of the city ofToledo. The woman was later identified as
nineteen year old Dana Rosendale, anew mother and student at Owen's Community College.
(00:20):
The call for assistance came at threethirty two a m. That morning,
when a man knocked on the doorof a house across the street and
asked that they called for police andan ambulance. The man said he had
spotted the woman laying there out ofhis peripheral vision as he drove his car
down the street. On September eleventh, nineteen eighty two. Six days later,
(00:43):
Dana Rosendale died at a local hospital, and the subsequent autopsy revealed she
died from blunt force trauma to theright side of the head. The cause
of the death was rolled undetermined.From the south shore of Lake Erie,
This is Great Lake's True Crime.Nineteen year old Dana Rosendale was a new
(01:21):
mother and college student who went outfor a night of dancing at a local
nightclub called the Southside Roxy with herbest friend, also named Roxy, but
you met an awful fate that night. In nineteen eighty two. As with
many cases like this, attention wasinitially focused on Toby, Dana's boyfriend at
(01:42):
the time and the father of herchild. The relationship was described by those
who knew Dana as turbulent, withvarious accusations of some violence between the two.
Suffice to say, Toby was notwell liked by Dana's family and friends.
He was four years older than herand a little rough around the edges.
(02:05):
However, he always denied having anythingto do with the murder, insisting
he had been home sleeping that nightafter a long day at work. He
also claims the couple planned to getmarried one day. Toby has said that
there was some illegal activity occurring atthe nightclub that Dana was at that night,
including prostitution, illegal drugs, andafter hours parties. He shared a
(02:30):
theory with police that perhaps Dana gotmixed up was someone she shouldn't have at
the club. Dana's friend, Roxy, however, said that whatever foul play
Dana may have met that night didnot happen at the club. She was
with Dana the entire night. Roxyalso said that Dana was pretty intoxicated,
(02:50):
and the two stayed out so latethat they missed the last city bus that
could have taken them home. Sothe club bouncer, who Roxy knew socially
from frequenting the club, agreed togive the two ride home. He dropped
off Roxy first at her house inMichigan. The name of that bouncer was
Russell Adkins, a man police hadalready been familiar with. Adkins was the
(03:16):
man who called nine one one thatnight and said he found Dana's body on
the side of that residential street inToledo. The problem with that coincidence is
that when he made the initial report, Adkins said the body he discovered was
a stranger, not someone that hehad just given a ride to. When
(03:36):
asked about that discrepancy, Adkins saidhe claimed the body belonged to a stranger
because he didn't want any trouble withpolice, as he was already on parole.
He had just served a stint inprison for receiving stolen property. So
upon this questioning, Adkins said hewould clear everything up with police and give
them the whole story of what happenedthat night. He said that wild driving
(04:00):
Dana home, he turned a cornerand the car engine revved very loudly,
and this sudden jolt from whatever causedit having to make Dana fall out of
the car door, causing her tohit her head on the pavement, and
that's what caused the massive head wound. Police in the coroner were skeptical of
this story, and the death wasruled undetermined by the coroner. Adding to
(04:26):
the skepticism was that a few daysafter Dana suffered her injuries, a police
detective found the thick part of apool queue with blood on it on the
street that Dana's body was found on. This was after the Lucas County Coroner
had contacted the police and expressed concernthat Danas should have exhibited more trauma if
(04:46):
she had indeed fallen from a movingcar as purported. But this story is
not only about Dana Rosendale. It'sa story of perseverance. It's a story
of that one month old baby thatDana had when she died. Brittany's Stork
grew up in the Toledo suburb ofOregon, Ohio, on the shores of
(05:06):
Lake Erie's Mammy Bay near Toledo.She grew up feeling loved feeling safe,
but without ever having known her biologicalmother. That wasn't much of an issue
for Brittany until one day when herkindergarten teacher asked her a question. She
asked her how her mom died.Brittany was confused and terrified. When she
(05:29):
came home from school that day,she asked her mom what her teacher was
talking about. It was that kindergartenday that Brittany learned the person she called
mom was actually her grandmother and thather biological mother died at the age of
nineteen. She was told it wasa car accident. As Brittany grew older,
(05:50):
though, she started piecing together bitsof information about her mother and knew
that something about Dana's death wasn't addingup when she asked questions. No one
would talk to her about it,but Brittany knew that there was part of
the story that was missing. Growingup in the late eighties and early nineties,
Brittany didn't have the benefit of Googlelike we have today. Heck,
(06:14):
she didn't even have Infoseek like Iused back in the day. In the
seventh grade, however, Brittany learnedabout the magic of a technology known as
microfilm she discovered that newspaper archives werekept at the local library on microfilm,
and from that day forward, Brittanyspent lots of time at the libraries searching
(06:34):
those archives. First she found Dana'sobituary, Then she found an article with
the headline quote nineteen year old foundon road dead. From there, she
found more articles about her mother's batteredbody having been discovered along that street.
She also saw that Dana's death wasruled undetermined by the Lucas County corner who
(06:58):
couldn't rule out foul play. SoBrittany was outraged when she discovered this information.
She was angry that everyone close toher had lied to her, or
at best it withheld the truth.So the thirteen year old Dana angrily confronted
her father, who had had thatturbulent relationship with her mother at the time
of Dana's death. She wanted thetruth, but Toby said she still wasn't
(07:23):
ready to hear it. Maybe hewasn't ready to talk about it, who
knows. On that Labor Day weekendin nineteen eighty two, Dana's older sister,
Deb had been camping with her familywhen Deb received word that Dana had
been found on the side of thestreet, eight miles from the dance club
where she had been that night.She was in critical condition. Deb of
(07:46):
course, raced home from the campingtrip. Initially, it wasn't clear if
Dana had been hit by a car, thrown from a vehicle, or if
something else caused her severe head injury. In any case, though Dana was
taken to the hospital unconscious with aseverely swollen face. Detectives began asking questions
(08:07):
at the hospital, and Dana's boyfriend, Toby, wanted nothing to do with
the investigation, although he did eventuallyrelent and cooperate to some degree. Police
were certainly interested in Toby, notonly because the boyfriend is always a suspect,
but because Dana and Toby had thatvollatle on again, off again relationship.
(08:31):
Six days after being taken to thehospital, Dana died. Her sister,
Debbed, didn't believe that Dana's deathwas an accident, and police seemed
to agree with her. Dana hadvirtually no other injuries other than the severe
head trauma. Police in the coronerasserted that someone who had been in a
(08:52):
serious auto accident would normally have someother significant injuries. In fact, a
paramedic on the scene said he hadworked hundreds of vehicle related accidents and had
never seen someone with massive head traumain one spot but nothing else. So
detectives investigated, but they came upempty. It was obvious that she had
(09:13):
not been hit by a car,but it was not obvious what did happen.
There was little evidence to go onback in nineteen eighty two, of
course, there were no cell phonevideos, no ring doorbells, and no
DNA testing. After a few monthswith no solid leads, the investigation slowed
(09:33):
down. His new cases took priority. Fast forward a couple decades, all
the way to twenty oh six.In fact, Brittany was now an adult
and was serving jury duty in theLucas County Court of Common Police when she
was overcome with a sudden urge tofind out what happened to her mother.
(09:54):
On lunch break, while still servingjury duty, Britney walked into the Lucas
County Prosecutor's office and said that hermother had been murdered and she wanted answers
after all these years. Because Dana'sbody was actually found in neighboring Wood County,
just over the County line. Brittanywas given contact information for investigator in
(10:16):
the Wood County Prosecutor's office in BowlingGreen, Ohio. The investigator Wood County
seemed less than interested in helping,though, so next up, Brittany Stork
walked into the police department in thecity of Northwood where Dana was killed and
demanded to speak with the police chiefabout her mother's murder. A detective promised
(10:39):
to look into it, but shegot nowhere with that detective either. Time
passed by, first months and thenyears with still no answers for Brittany,
who eventually got married and had kidsof her own. It seemed like she
may never find the answers she hadbeen so fervently looking for. In a
(11:00):
minute, though, we'll find outhow all that changed. In a very
odd coincidence, one random day,Brittany found herself eating in the same restaurant
as the original detective who worked onthe case of Dana's death decades earlier.
He was with his wife when Brittanywent over and introduced herself. When she
(11:22):
explained the brick walls she was runninginto and trying to find the truth about
her mom, the detective who wasthen retired urged her to keep pushing and
not give up. He said that'sthe only way to reinvigorate a cold case
like this, so she did justthat. Brittany started calling that investigator at
(11:43):
the Wood County Prosecutor's office every weekasking for updates. After a while,
he started showing some interest in thecase and followed up on the phone calls,
even though for a long time theupdates were essentially sorry, still nothing
new. Fortunately, by this time, which was thirty years after the murder,
much of the evidence was gone,having been discarded at some point over
(12:07):
the years. In twenty thirteen,Dana Rosendale's body was exhoomed upon Brittany's request,
and an examination revealed that the blunttrauma injuries were a result of continuous
beating rather than a single accidental fall. The coroner changed the ruling of Dana's
(12:28):
death from undetermined to homicide. RussellAdkins, that bar bouncer who gave the
girls a riant home, was fiftysix years old at the time, and
he was charged with Dana's murder.He was arrested without incident by the US
Marshals in twenty fifteen and indicted bythe Wood County Prosecutor. Despite the best
(12:52):
efforts of the defense attorneys to havethe case dismissed, Adkins went on trial
for murder in twenty fifteen. InJanuary twenty sixteen, after more than seven
hours of deliberations, the jury reportedthat their deliberations had concluded they could not
reach a unanimous decision on adkins guiltor innocence, and with a hung jury,
(13:16):
the case remained unresolved and Adkins remainedin custody at the Wood County Jail
on a five hundred thousand dollars bond. The prosecution did not give up,
however. In April twenty sixteen,Dana's body was once again exhumed from its
resting place in Bloom Chapel Cemetery nearBairdstown, Ohio, and re examined.
(13:41):
Detectives from the Northwood Police Department andmembers of the Wood County Prosecutor's Office were
present as the casket was brought upout of the ground. Members of Dana's
family, including Brittany, touched andkissed the casket before it was transported from
the scene. The remains were takento the Lucas County Coroner's Office for evaluation.
(14:05):
Eventually, at the age of fiftyseven, Adkins was retried in Wood
County Common Pleas Court for Dana's murderin July twenty sixteen, after thirty four
years in two trials, he wasfound guilty and sentenced to fifteen years to
life in prison for his crime.He hasn't shown any remorse for the last
(14:28):
thirty three years. Dana's sister debtold the media outside the courtroom right after
the verdict was pronounced. I alwaysknew she was murdered. I never thought
it was an accident. Never.In the second trial, prosecution argued that
Adkins had killed Dana by beating herwith a portion of a pool queue.
(14:52):
Adkins had been known to have kepta poll queue in his vehicle at the
time, and as you'll recall,a pool que was found near the scene
in nineteen eighty two. The sagadid not end there, however. In
July twenty eighteen, the Ohio sixthDistrict Court of Appeals vacated atkins twenty sixteen
(15:13):
conviction for the murder of Dana.The appellate court basically said that too much
time had passed between the murder andthe prosecution. Wood County prosecutor Paul Dobson
vowed to appeal that ruling to theOhio Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court
declined to hear the appeal, sothe decision by the Supreme Court effectively ended
(15:37):
the case. Adkins has been quitted, set free, and cannot be retried
for Dana's murder. That must beincredibly frustrating for Dana's family and loved ones.
And there's still more to the story. In July twenty sixteen, a
friend of Adkins named ROBERTA. Axtelwas arrested for threatening Brittany on a social
(16:02):
media page. Axtel admitted to postingthe message on a Facebook group called Free
Russ Adkins Now, and pleaded guiltyto one count of retaliation, a third
degree felony. Several other charges weredismissed as part of the agreement. Before
sentencing Axtell, judge Reeve Kelsey saidthe victim of her threatening message suffered quote
(16:26):
serious psychological harm. He ordered Axtellto complete three hundred hours of community service
and pay a one thousand dollars fineplus court costs, among other conditions.
He suspended a three year of prisonsentence. Dana Rosendale is buried at Bloom
(16:47):
Chapel Cemetery in bloom Township, Ohio. She would have turned sixty years old
on October thirtieth, twenty twenty two. And that's all for this episode of
Great Lakes True Crime. A bigthank you to show supporter Sarah and others
who made a donation through our websiteat podpage dot com slash Great Lakes True
(17:08):
Crime. Also many thanks to thosewho recently left five star reviews on their
podcast app. If you haven't lefta five star review, I could really
use your help as it helps getthe word out about the show. Now
let's do a real quick streaming review. I recently call the six part mini
series called Lies and Deceit on Netflix. It's actually a show from Spain that
(17:34):
is dubbed into English. Although Ilike to watch shows in their original languages
and watch the subtitles and what's interestingto me, I will turn up the
volume even if I'm reading subtitles ifI can't hear a show. I'm not
sure why, but I do.Anyways. This is a show about a
doctor who goes out on a datewith a school teacher who happens to be
(17:59):
his son's teach. After the date. The woman can't completely remember everything that
happened, but as she starts piecingthings together, she realizes in her mind
that she was raped by the manthat she went out with, and it
goes on from there. You beginto see where the truth is. Of
course, he denies it, butit's all sorted out in the end.
(18:22):
And it's very well produced, show, very good, and it's called Lies
and Deceit. It's on Netflix.I would recommend that one. As a
reminder, you can follow us onFacebook and Twitter just search for Great Lakes
True Crime. You can also checkout links in the show notes for our
social media handles, the web address, and the show merchandise page. It
(18:45):
is not too early to start buyingthose gifts for the true true crime lover
in your life. For Great LakesTrue Crime. This has been Steve,
You're host and producer. Thanks forlistening. By Indian contributor and the patter
painter Verntner and put Up Put Indiacontributor and put Matter and putting
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