Four Years Later, Officials Report No Progress in Metroparks Double Homicide Cold Case, But Fresh Hope Comes With National Coverage

Kate Brown (left) and Carnell Sledge (right) Credit: Family photos

Investigators have gotten many scores of tips and conducted some 270 interviews, but who killed Carnell “Nell” E. Sledge, 40, of North Olmsted and Katherine “Kate” C. Brown, 33, of Fairview Park, in the Rocky River Reservation on June 4, 2019 remains a mystery.

But that may soon change: A true crime show has taken an interest, and recently interviewed at least one of the victim’s family members.

Despite happening on a beautiful June afternoon just a few yards off Valley Parkway, no arrests have been made and investigators remain tightlipped about what they have learned.

Kate grew up in Olmsted Falls and attended Olmsted Falls High School. Sledge grew up in Bedford, where he also went to high school.

Brown worked for QCG Goods in Brook Park, which bought and sold jewelry to sell on eBay. Sledge worked as an audio visual tech at Crescent Digital in Strongsville and volunteered as a youth consultant for Applewood Centers. Previously, he had worked as a special education specialist for Westlake City Schools.

The longtime friends, who arrived in separate cars between 5 and 5:08 p.m., were each shot in the back of their heads within approximately 10 minutes of arriving in the part of the valley in Fairview Park. Their bodies were found near the western bank of the Rocky River, just north of the Lorain Road Bridge. Two kayakers found their bodies around 5:20 p.m., and called the police at 5:22 p.m.

Sledge was killed by two shots to the back of the head and was found near the bench, while Brown died from a single gunshot wound to the head and was found on the edge of the river, according to the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office.

But according to the narrative supplement of the police report written by Kenneth Schabitzer, coordinator of the dive team: “three (3) shell casings from a firearm and key were located on the river bottom in approximately ten (10) inches of water.” These shells were found near Kate’s body. Dive teams then searched the river area twice within the first week after the initial response to the scene, and again 10 days after, but they found no other evidence.”

Cleveland Metroparks police along with the FBI have handled the investigation. The FBI refers reporters inquiring about the investigation’s progress to the Metroparks police. The Metroparks always responds with the same answer: it is an “ongoing investigation.”

Metroparks police officers were recently asked whether they have suspects, theories, an indication of motive, or a dedicated team or an officer working on the case. Spokesperson Jacqueline Gerling offered only, “We are continuing our investigation of this case under Metroparks Chief Kelly Stillman and continue to work with the FBI on all efforts to bring justice for the victims and their families.”

Gerling said Metroparks officers have conducted more than 270 interviews, and received 165 tips during the course of this investigation. She added, “Cleveland Metroparks Police are in regular communication with the families, and our priority remains bringing justice for the victims and their families.”

But Tom Brown, Kate Brown’s father, who lives in Olmsted Falls, disagrees. He finds it is inconceivable that Metroparks police haven’t made any progress in solving the killings, or that they claim to have routine contact with the family.

“We met with Cleveland Metroparks’ new chief, Kelly Stillman, on April 6 of last year,” Brown said in an interview. “But there has been no communication since then. Nothing. If they haven’t figured it out, why haven’t they expanded the search?”

Darlene Sledge, Carnell’s mother, shares Brown’s sentiments. “We haven’t been contacted either by the authorities,” says Sledge. “The last time Metroparks or the FBI called or came by here was many months ago, probably spring 2022.”

Stillman was hired as interim ranger chief for the Metroparks in November 2021, when he abruptly resigned as police chief for the City of Beachwood, where he served for little more than one year. Stillman replaced former Metroparks chief Katherine Dolan, who resigned from the Metroparks to take over as deputy chief for the City of Beachwood, where she now serves as chief.

Soon after Stillman took over as interim chief at the Metroparks, he nixed the then lead investigator Nick Valente’s proposal to bring in The Vidocq Society, a nonprofit, 82-member group of retired professional criminal investigators who were willing to assist with the Brown-Sledge case.

The Vidocq Society accepts both cold cases and ongoing investigations two years or older, but only if invited by the jurisdictional law enforcement agency which, in this case, is the Metroparks.

Kate’s older sister Lauren Rao says: “[The] Vidocq Society accepts only a few cases annually. I thought we were in. We were celebrating. But chief Stillman took over and almost immediately decided he didn’t want the Society helping. It was a huge disappointment. Stillman vaguely referred to bringing in ‘new people,’ to have a fresh set of eyes, yet nothing has resulted.”

Rao also said that her Uncle Skip, Tom Brown’s brother, a recently deceased, retired Del Ray Beach police and canine officer for 25 years, was frequently in touch with former Metroparks lead investigator Nick Valente. “Skip spearheaded the Brown family’s quest for answers,” says Rao.

Brown wanted to speak with Skip about the Vidocq Society, to obtain “detailed information about the professional investigative resources that the Metroparks police were aware of and turned down,” but Skip passed away before we had the opportunity to interview him.

Brown says, “Among Skip and his colleagues, the consensus was that the Metroparks bungled the investigation.”

The Metroparks declined to comment on why they won’t allow any other agencies to assist in its investigation.

Rao says Kate and Nell did not often meet in the Metroparks, but were close friends who hung out frequently, on and off, for ten years after first meeting. “Kate visited the park often to exercise and walk with Mom,” says Rao. “It was a daily routine. Kate lost close to 100 pounds. It was a last-minute request on the part of Kate that day, asking Nell to meet her at the park.”

Both families are disappointed the park removed the signs along the road that drew attention to the case and the memory of their loved ones. “Near the bench, a memorial was established with their pictures, and that was also removed,” says Rao. “I think it’s a conflict of interest. On one hand, they were bringing in tips. On the other hand, it advertised that people were killed in the parks.” She adds, “The lead investigator spoke up and said that the signs were helping, because leads were coming in, but he was ignored.”

Rao says that after the Metroparks removed the signs, she called every mayor in communities surrounding the park, asking to erect signs right outside park entrances. “The only city that responded and cooperated was Fairview Park,” says Rao, who added that she resents having to take a lot of creative initiative she believes law enforcement should be taking.

“I want this solved so it doesn’t happen to another family,” says Rao “That’s a huge concern of mine, because it’s an illusion that the park is safe. Shortly after Kate and Nell were killed, there were several other crimes in the parks not made public. I won’t bring my family to the parks at all.”

Alex Zuban, Kate’s younger sister, says she knew intimate details of Kate’s life. But when she made suggestions to investigators, they were ignored or postponed. “When we suggested other ways to get the information from Kate’s phone for evidence, they refused,” says Zuban. “And when I suggested they look into certain contacts of Kate, they would not follow up. In one case, it took investigators a year to get in touch with my best friend after he had given them solid information within one and a half weeks after Kate’s killing.”

Zuban claims that, when the new chief Stillman came in and “put the kibosh on lead investigator Valente, or anyone speaking with us, Valente got extremely upset,” says Zuban. “He said he was packing to leave for Philadelphia to meet with Vidocq Society the next day. And when he found out the chief canceled it, he told us he was so angry, it almost caused him to lose his job.”

Zuban also commented on the FBI’s handling of the case: “Agent Lynn Bilko’s departure from the investigation was another huge blow,” says Zuban. “She was assisting on the case. Last year, Bilko was reassigned. I felt like we were very supported by the FBI in the very beginning, but now it seems like they have given up. I wish they would’ve been more hard-headed and called the Metroparks out more.”

Reflecting back on Kate’s last day, Zuban thinks it may have been a hard one, possibly because of a conversation they’d had in the morning, which she says was their last. “When she was having a hard day, she would contact Nell to talk,” says Zuban. “Nell had plans to be elsewhere at that hour, but met Kate at the park. It’s also possible she wanted to waste some time while waiting to hear from a guy she liked,” who was close to Zuban’s ex-husband.

Kate had also spent time the night before with her ex-boyfriend, who Zuban later didn’t want at the funeral.

Zuban also shares, “On the Friday before Kate died, she went bowling with a guy she met on Tinder. Kate then found out he had killed a guy, and went to jail for it. He lied to Kate about why he’d spent time in jail. That was the first person I thought of when my parents came to my house to tell me Kate had been killed.”

Like the Browns, the Sledges are disappointed with Metroparks refusal to allow Vidocq Society to help with the investigation.

The killings have raised questions among nearby residents and park users whether the park system is safe. The Rocky River Reservation is a 2,500-acre preserve along the Rocky River and portions of its East and West branches that crosses through eight communities, from Lakewood to Berea. The area surrounding the spot where Sledge and Brown were killed has a number of potential escape routes.

The kayakers-witnesses who found Kate and Carnell’s bodies are Kaitlin Vacha, who owns a photography business, and Tony Vacha, who runs an eco landscaping company. Kaitlin says, “We have always had the theory the killer was on foot. There’s a footpath on the other side of Valley Parkway that we believe the killer used. I used to run through there all the time.”

Kaitlin shares that she and Tony were trying to find a spot to launch, and that was when they found the bodies.

The experience haunts Kaitlin, who broke down while describing her experience. “The way the bodies looked is engraved in my brain,” she says. “It just looked like a personal hit. We didn’t see any cars driving away. But some were parked in the lot.”

Kaitlin feels strongly that investigators handled the crime scene poorly. “I kept thinking about the first responders,” she says, “how they should have closed the road, and not touched the bodies. We thought it was odd they let people on the scene go so soon. I thought they were very casual. They allowed a guy who had pulled up just before the police arrived to walk his dog through the area. And when they told us that we could leave, I asked the guy sitting in his pickup truck whether he wanted us to stay, but he didn’t.”

According to public records, including police audio recordings from the crime scene and accounts from the witnesses who discovered the bodies, Metroparks police failed to shut down Valley Parkway for close to 45 minutes.

Public records also show that the witness sitting in his pickup truck, parked in the closeby lot during the killings, says he didn’t see or hear anything because he was immersed in work on his laptop. Kaitlin says she observed him sitting in his pickup truck, and that he didn’t get out until after police arrived.

She also says investigators “didn’t do thorough questioning of witnesses at the crime scene. I’ve always wondered about the guy sitting in the truck. I mean, I was right there crying. Clearly, things were happening. But he stayed in his truck.”

Records show that officers were conducting a traffic stop involving a speeding driver whose car emitted a “strong smell of raw marijuana” on Valley Parkway, south of where the bodies were found, when they were dispatched to the crime scene. The driver was released. A Metroparks spokesperson claims there was no connection.

Tony Vacha, who is married to and lives in Cleveland with Kaitlin, is the other witness who found the bodies. He says he was surprised by the lack of crime scene protocol. “There was no police tape, no boundaries to protect evidence. Worse, they didn’t question witnesses the way they should have. They treated it like a stolen package off someone’s porch.”

Since then, Tony says, he and Kaitlin talk mainly to each other about it. But he recalls what happened that day: “When I looked at Carnell’s eyes, which were open, then saw his head wound, I peered over from the bench and saw the woman face-down near the river. I was traumatized,” he says. “I told Kaitlin to call the police. We both called. My initial thought was this was a murder scene, so I was backing up slowly to our car.”

Even now, Tony says, “It’s surprising more personnel haven’t been assigned to solve this case. If investigators are at a deadend, even after the first two years, they should trickle info out to the public, or ask for assistance.”

Tony shares that “Kaitlin now fears being in certain public places, especially at night. We both have trauma.”

Rao echoes the Vachas comments: “The witness who was sitting in his pickup truck nearby at the time of the killings was let go, then called back later. When Uncle Skip found that out, he asked investigators whether he’d been tested at the crime scene for gunpowder. And when Skip found out he hadn’t been tested, he couldn’t believe it,” says Rao.

Kaitlin had to take a moment to collect herself before she could say, “There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think about the crime scene. We both felt it wasn’t handled well. These people have families.”

Carnell’s mother and Kate’s father are also mystified why it took Metroparks police more than nine hours to notify them of the killings. Law enforcement went to the homes of the victims’ parents at 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. the next morning to tell them.

Sledge recalls the circumstances around Carnell’s last afternoon. “He worked that day,” Sledge says. “He got off around 4 or 4:30. Planned a dinner with my Mom and the rest of us. And he was getting ready to go on vacation later that week, to Vegas.”

The question continually asked by family members and those who have seen the memorials at the site of the killings is how Brown and Sledge could have been shot in such a public spot without any witnesses. The killings occurred just a mile from the Metroparks police station and the Big Met Golf Course, one of the busiest courses in Ohio.

“It’s hard for me to believe nobody saw or heard anything. I don’t understand why there were no witnesses to the killings.” Brown said. “Instead of buying up golf courses for $10 million, the Metroparks should install more surveillance cameras.”

Brown said he has nothing but praise for his daughter Kate’s close friend. “Carnell was a really nice guy,” he said.

The pain is just as deep for the Sledge family, and they find the loss difficult to discuss. “Never did I imagine something like this happening to our son or family. Sometimes, he walks into my dreams, smiling,” says Sledge.

Carnell’s friend, Jeff Schwartz, 37, chief operations officer of Empire Data Management, reiterated that Carnell was always smiling. “He was magnetic, In perpetual happy mode,” says Schwartz. “Carnell was the nucleus of our friends group. His stories opened us up.”

Schwartz says he feels the Metroparks bungled the investigation since the get-go. “Everything that could go wrong, from the beginning, has,” he says. “I would rather have a detective from ‘Law & Order’ trying to solve this.”

Homicides in the Metroparks are rare. Prior to this, the last homicide in Cleveland Metroparks was in 1999, and that was solved. It was determined to be drug related.

For its part, the FBI continues to funnel all inquiries to Metroparks law enforcement. When pressed for more information, FBI public affairs officer Susan Licate says, “Cleveland FBI prohibits the existence of investigations, release of information on investigations, and any public report on the closing of an investigation. Our priority remains bringing justice for the victims and their families.”

When asked how he would like people to remember his daughter, Tom Brown paused to collect his thoughts.

“She was a spark that lit up our lives,” he said. “Every day, something or someone reminds us of her. It’s amazing how many people’s lives she touched.”

Anyone with information or tips about the unsolved double homicide should call the FBI Cleveland Field Office at 216-622-6842, Cleveland Metroparks Police at 440-331-5219, or Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County at 216-252-7463. Or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov. There may be a $100,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.