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Gerald G. Klusch - In Memoriam
Coroner confirms body found to be Klusch
November 22, 2011
By DEANNE JOHNSON (newsroom@reviewonline.com)
The Review
LISBON - The body of the man found Friday has been confirmed as Gerald G. Klusch by the coroner's office in Summit County.
A cause of death of the farmer and businessman has not yet been identified.
Detectives with the Columbiana County Sheriff's department continue to investigate what has been considered a suspicious death since Klusch's disappearance seven weeks ago.
Detective Andy Sweeney went to Summit County Monday to go over the preliminary autopsy of the body with investigators. The body was found Friday afternoon down a wooded hillside off Hazel Run Road.
Sheriff Ray Stone said the area was isolated with only one vehicle going past throughout the evening while investigators were there. He believes it is likely the body has been there throughout the past seven weeks.
Sweeney and Klusch's son, Ryan, were led to the area Friday by following up on some information. Stone said Monday it was not a new tip brought out by the offer made last week by the family of a reward for $20,000. Instead, the information was from a developing lead investigators had been working on prior to the reward.
Deputies had believed the body to be Klusch's since it was found Friday, due in part to a wallet found nearby with Klusch's identification and credit cards inside. Stone said the wallet has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, which was also there the night the body was found taking photos.
BCII previously had determined the blood found in the back of Klusch's truck was his. The white pickup was found with new damage off Beacon Light Road the day after he had disappeared. The body was found more than 15 miles away in an area without nearby homes. Investigators and volunteers had searched properties belonging to Klusch extensively. The property where the body was found did not belong to Klusch.
Stone said he spent more than an hour with Klusch's family, who now has an answer to one of their questions. Investigators now will continue to seek the answer to what happened.
Klusch, 71, U.S. Route 30, Lisbon, was last seen alive by his employee Matt Bailey when Klusch dropped him off at his home on Dungannon Road on Sept. 29.
http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/549745/Coroner-confirms-body-found-to-be-Klusch.html
Body of missing man found
November 20, 2011
By KATIE SCHWENDEMAN (newsroom@reviewonline.com)
The Review
LISBON - A body found by the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office Friday afternoon just outside of Salineville is believed to be that of Lisbon area resident Gerald G. Klusch, 71, who was reported missing by his family Sept. 30.
Sheriff Ray Stone said Detective Andy Sweeney and Klusch's son Ryan located the body on Hazel Run Road at 3:20 p.m.
Sweeney was following up on a lead when he spotted the body near the rural road, Stone said.
It was found about a mile east of the Clarks Mill Road intersection in a rural area with no houses nearby.
Stone said the one lane gravel road did not appear to have been traveled frequently and that there were no fresh tire marks leading to the body. A sign posted along the road indicates it does not receive winter maintenance.
He also said that although the death appears suspicious, nothing unusual was found with the body and that it appeared to have been there for quite some time.
Evidence such as Klusch's credit cards and an identification card were found near the body, however.
"We are 99 percent positive it was him," he said.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office is conducting the autopsy, and the sheriff's department has no "clear-cut" suspects at this time, although deputies are still conducting interviews, he added.
Klusch, who lived on U.S. Route 30 and owned six properties in the area, was reportedly last seen by one of his farm employees around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29.
His abandoned pickup was found the following afternoon by his family off Beacon Light Road in Center Township, which is one of the several tracts of land in the area owned and farmed by Klusch.
Ryan Klusch called the sheriff's office Sept. 30 to report his father missing. A search immediately ensued, aided by the family, volunteer firefighters from area departments and a local search-and-rescue group.
The search was also assisted by helicopter and on the ground with search dogs.
Earlier this week the family offered a $20,000 reward for new information or leads that would help officials locate him.
http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/549686/Body-of-missing--man-found.html
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