Let us not forget Angel Vincent who
was murdered on this date (February 1, 1988). Her killer,
SUMMARY: On January 31, 1988, at
approximately 10:50 p.m., Norma Jean O’Nan and her husband returned to their
home in Elyria and discovered the front door unlocked, the lights and
television on, and their sixteen-year-old daughter, Angel Vincent, missing.
Only twenty minutes earlier, Mrs. O’Nan had spoken with her daughter by
telephone to learn that Angel’s girlfriend, Deborah Mullins, was at her home
and that Deborah’s boyfriend, Darryl Durr, was expected to arrive later in the
evening. That was the last chance Mrs. O’Nan would have to speak to her
daughter alive.
Mrs. O’Nan testified that Angel was wearing
a hot pink sweater, a light pink and white checkered blouse, hot pink pants,
and white tennis shoes when she and her husband left Angel home alone on the
evening of January 31, 1988. After notifying the Elyria Police of Angel’s
disappearance, Mrs. O’Nan searched her home to determine if any of Angel’s
belongings were missing. Although Angel’s pink pants were found, Mrs. O’Nan’s
search revealed the following items missing: an old lavender blanket with a
hole in the center, a pair of black acid-washed denim jeans, Angel’s pink and
white checkered blouse, light blue eyeglasses that Angel wore only in her home,
a jean jacket that Angel had borrowed from a friend, an Avon necklace with an
“A” charm attached, a small chain bracelet, an Avon slip-on bracelet, an
inexpensive rhinestone ring and a dog chain that hung from her mirror. Mrs.
O’Nan also discovered Angel’s handbag stuffed under her bed.
Three or four days later, Mrs. O’Nan
confronted Deborah Mullins and Durr regarding the disappearance of her daughter,
and was told by Durr that “you know how kids are, she probably ran away.” On
April 30, 1988, three boys noticed a foul odor coming from two orange traffic
barrels while playing in Brookside Park. The barrels and been placed open end
to open end, and were underneath a railroad tie. Upon separating the barrels,
the boys discovered a severely decomposed female body that had been wrapped in
a dirty old blanket. A portion of a leg was visible through a large hole in the
blanket. A deputy coroner testified that the only clothing found on the victim
was a pink sweater and a pair of white tennis shoes. The pink sweater had been
pushed up well above the victim’s breast area.
An initial external examination
determined the body to be that of a young white female, who was in an advanced
state of decomposition. The body was heavily infested with maggots and the
body’s eyes and ears had been lost. There was also prominent evidence of animal
activity about the inguinal and vulval regions of the body, and in and about the
thighs. According to the deputy coroner, the decomposition was consistent with
three months exposure. After examining the body, the deputy coroner concluded
that the cause of death was homicidal violence. Since the body was so badly
decomposed, the deputy coroner could not determine whether ligature marks,
scrapes or tears indicating strangulation were present. There was no damage
noted to the internal cartilaginous structures of the neck. The deputy coroner
declined, however, to rule out strangulation as a cause of death since damage
to these structures is not always present in young strangulation victims due to
the flexibility of these structures. In addition, because the body was so
severely infested with bacteria, testing for the presence of acid phosphates
and spermatozoa was inconclusive.
In September, 1988, after Durr was
arrested for two unrelated rapes, Deborah Mullins revealed her knowledge of
Angel’s disappearance to the Cleveland Police Department. As the result of her
information, an ankle X-ray obtained from Elyria Memorial Hospital, and dental
records, the body discovered in Brookside Park was determined to be that of
Angel Vincent. At trial, Deborah Mullins testified that on the evening Angel
disappeared Deborah had asked Durr to drive to the house of one of Angel’s
friends to retrieve a package of cigarettes for Angel. Durr agreed and left.
Shortly thereafter, Durr returned to Deborah’s house and, instead of entering
through the front door, began throwing stones at her upstairs bedroom window
and blew his car horn for her to come out. Deborah and her baby, who had been
fathered by Durr, left the house and entered Durr’s car where Durr brandished a
knife toward both of them. As Durr was driving, Deborah heard noises from the
back seat and after turning around discovered Angel bound on the rear
floorboard. According to Deborah’s testimony, Angel was wearing black
acid-washed denim jeans, a jean jacket, and tennis shoes when she was last seen
in the back of Durr’s car. When Deborah asked Durr why Angel was bound in his
car, Durr responded that he intended to “waste” her because “she would tell.”
He never revealed just what Angel was going to tell.
After threatening the life of both
Deborah and his baby, Durr let Deborah out of his car. He returned to her home
three or four hours later. Upon returning, Durr told Deborah that he had
“wasted” Angel and that she should pack her things because they were leaving.
Durr drove Deborah and their baby to his wife’s, Janice Durr’s, Cleveland
apartment. After dropping Deborah and the baby off, Durr left with a duffle bag
containing two shovels. When Durr returned, he was wet and covered with snow.
Upon entering the room, Durr placed a ring and bracelet that belonged to Angel
on a coffee table. As he was falling asleep, Durr told Deborah that he had
strangled Angel with a dog chain until she “pissed, pooped and shit and made a
few gurgling sounds,” took her body to a park, wrapped it in a blanket, placed
it between two construction cones, and left her by some railroad tracks.
Later that day or the next day, Durr
burned a bag of clothing in the basement of Janice Durr’s apartment building
and asked Deborah to model the black acid-washed jeans that Angel had worn on
the evening of her abduction. Durr then drove Deborah, Janice Durr and his
children to the west side of Cleveland where he burned another bag of items,
and while driving from Cleveland toward Elyria, Durr threw Angel’s jean jacket
out the car window. After arriving at Deborah’s home in Elyria, Deborah’s
mother informed her that Mrs. O’Nan had come over and inquired about Deborah’s
knowledge of Angels’s disappearance. Deborah testified that Durr threatened her
and their baby’s life and instructed her to tell Mrs. O’Nan that Angel had been
talking about running away. Deborah also testified that Durr took her and their
baby to Edgewater Park where Durr threw Angel’s glasses over a cliff into the
lake. A month or so later, while driving past the Cleveland Zoo, Durr pointed
to a location and said, “Over there.” When Deborah questioned his statement,
Durr replied, “You know what I am talking about.” Following a jury trial, Durr
was convicted of aggravated murder; kidnapping; aggravated robbery and rape.
The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Durr to death.
QUOTE: As soon as
death was declared at 10:36 a.m., Wesley Brewer, an uncle of the slain girl,
said to the victim's mother, Norma Godsey, "That son of a bitch is dead.
It was too serene. I'd rather have seen him die in the electric chair for what
he did to your daughter."
Godsey, who apparently thought the killer's mother was
present, tried to quiet Brewer. She said, "I'm a mother, I understand
what she's going through now."
Godsey, who was on oxygen, wheezed and sobbed throughout the exection.
As she was leaving, she sighed and said, "Oh, I'm
so glad."
AUTHOR: Norma Godsey is the mother of Angel Vincent who was murdered by Daryl
Durr on February 1, 1988. He was executed by the state of Ohio on April 20, 2010.
R.I.P Angel
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