Woman Shot In The Head After Pulling Into Stranger’s Driveway

Karen Lillian Michalski’s loved ones had only great things to say about the 29-year-old who worked at Gilford Instrument Laboratories in Ohio. “She had tons of friends. She was involved in a lot of groups she was active at work,” said Elaine, one of Karen’s 13 siblings.

On March 7, 1979, Karen and a friend met at a convention in Cleveland and later joined more friends at the Victoria Station restaurant in Rocky River. Shortly before midnight, Karen said she was going home and left in her 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

Though she lived west in Lorain, Karen drove east to Lakewood. On Clifton Boulevard, she turned right onto Beach Avenue and pulled into a driveway on 12203 Clifton.

According to Captain Gary Sprague of the Lakewood PD, “Witnesses across street say they heard a horn then a bang, heard a loud shot, heard what I thought was backfire. One witness says the saw a light colored station wagon blocking Karen’s car.”

Karen had been sitting in her car when someone with a shotgun approached the vehicle and shot her in the back of the head through the window. The mystery station wagon quickly fled the scene.

No one knows why Karen was driving in the opposite direction of her home, and it is not believed that she knew anyone in the area. Though generally known as an unproblematic person, she did have a lot of boyfriends, several of whom were looked into by police.

Karen had plans to go on a ski trip to Aspen, Colorado, with Patrick Deromedi from her ski club. He didn’t attend her wake or funeral, and just days after she was murdered, he went on the trip with someone different.

Investigators found it odd that he sold his successful automotive business and moved to Colorado within a year. But he had an alibi and passed a polygraph test.

In the victim’s apartment, officers found about a dozen love letters from her married boss, Charlie Horn. He also had a solid alibi and passed a polygraph test.

Authorities investigated Jeffrey Destro, who had been involved in a traffic accident in the area on the night of Karen’s murder. He drove a light-colored wagon and had a shotgun, but the shells ended up not being a match.

Also on the night of Karen’s murder, two people were shot with a shotgun during a robbery in east Cleveland. It has been theorized that Karen was lost, and after pulling into the stranger’s driveway, she was approached by these thieves.

According to a March 9, 1979, article in The Akron Beacon Journal, there were “slight dents and scratches” on the bumper of Karen’s car. It further explains that the woman may have been in a “minor accident and an irate driver could have chased her several miles.”

One interesting item investigators found in Karen’s apartment was a note she had written about her former boyfriend, Bill. He is not a person of interest.

“If anything happens to me and I mean anything tell Bill I’m sorry and I wish things could have been different.”

Karen’s murder has been unsolved for 45 years. In 2016, her siblings spoke to Cleveland 19 News about how difficult it is to mourn her death while having no answers or justice. Authorities are hoping someone will come forward with information. One sister, Linda Rourkee, stated,

“That person is still carrying it with them. They know what happened. There is no way they could have done this and forgot about it.”