A double homicide on Good Friday at an east side Cleveland car dealership brought back painful memories for Jeannette Sarli. The 80-year-old’s daughter Lori Sarli was murdered nearly five years ago at a car lot just a mile and a half away from the latest crime scene.
“You think of it every day because it’s there,” Sarli said. "It’s in your heart. She’s in my heart.”
Sarli was hanging out with her friends David Yuravak and Babette Hockenberry late one night at the shop in August 2012 in the Collinwood section of Cleveland. Lori’s brother Sal said an employee discovered their bodies the next morning. The group had all been shot in their heads.
“Her jaw was busted — swollen. She fought, okay? Her hands were bruised,” he said. "She had marks all over her hands.”
2012 triple murder at an east side car dealership still unsolved. Family says it's similar to last week's Mr. Cars murders. @WEWS 11pm pic.twitter.com/iwWXOtWi5e
— Derick Waller News 5 (@derickwallerTV) April 22, 2017
Candles lit tonight outside Mr. Cars, site of a double homicide one week ago in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/WlfsAgIChe
— Derick Waller News 5 (@derickwallerTV) April 22, 2017
Whether it’s mere coincidence or a real connection, the Sarli’s can’t help but notice the similarities between the 2012 murders and those of David and Trina Kuznik at Mr. Cars.
“It felt like they got away with something and they went back to the same area,” Jeannette Sarli said, “And you have to say it’s the same area because it’s so darn close.”
Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said Friday the case is still open, but as far as he knows, the two are not related.
“I want to tell the families we’re out there,” Tomba said. "We’re still working for them. Any and all investigative leads we get in, we follow up on.”
“It just seems like, to kill three people and not hear nothing, anybody, somebody out there knows something,” Sal Sarli said.
The business has since been torn down. There’s a food service manufacturer now in its place.
Shortly after Lori’s death, her mother Jeannette had a stroke. Now, it’s her dying wish to find her daughter’s killer.
“I just pray to God,” she said, “That they do find them.”
Anyone with information should call Cleveland Police.
