CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Bove trial date to be set in July

Star Beacon - 4/10/2018

April 10--JEFFERSON -- A trial date for an Ashtabula man accused in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 13-year-old Kara Zdanczewski will be set at a hearing in July.

John R. Bove, 47, will be scheduled to stand trial in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court, Ashtabula County Prosecutor Nicholas Iarocci said soon after a pretrial hearing Friday before Judge Gary Yost.

The final status conference was set for 1 p.m.July 13, at which time the court will schedule all the necessary deadlines to precede to a jury trial, Iarocci said.

Bove faces the following charges: aggravated murder with death penalty specification, three counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, one of felonious assault, two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of gross abuse of a corpse and one count of rape, according to court records.

Bove is being held without bond in the Ashtabula County jail.

Iarocci and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Cecilia Cooper are representing the state and court-appointed attorney Thomas Shaughnessy and co-counsel Ariana Tarighati are representing Bove.

All of the charges stem from the reported kidnapping, rape and murder of Kara Zdanczewski. Her remains were discovered the evening of May 11 in the woods off Austinburg Road, after Ashtabula police detectives questioned Bove while he was in the custody of the Sharon (Pennsylvania) Police Department.

Bove, a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, was arrested May 11 by Sharon, Pennsylvania police after fleeing Ohio in a stolen vehicle.

Police have said Bove kidnapped, raped and murdered Kara Zdanczewski sometime between May 9-10. One of Bove's evidence-tampering charges alleges he tried to hide the knife he used to kill her; the other accuses him of attempting to hide her body in the woods. The gross abuse of a corpse charge claims Bove burned her body after her death.

Prosecutors have said a DNA sample found during an autopsy matched a DNA sample obtained from Bove through a search warrant while he was incarcerated in Pennsylvania.

___

(c)2018 the Star Beacon (Ashtabula, Ohio)

Visit the Star Beacon (Ashtabula, Ohio) at www.starbeacon.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.