Murder victim’s husband responds to prosecutor’s death

Last week’s death of former Greene County Prosecutor William Schenck hit Joe Byrne hard.

“I have been an emotional mess, because Bill was so key in dragging me out of the gutter I fell into” more than 30 years ago after Byrne’s 21-year-old wife, Sherry Byrne, was strangled and stabbed to death on a secluded Beavercreek lane in one of the decade’s most brutal and high-profile murder cases in the region.

“Many people will sadly choose to focus on his later issues but miss just how genuine and selfless he was in his life mission to help victims,” Byrne, now 56 and living in Garwood, New Jersey, said in an email. “He went beyond the norm to restore Sherry’s humanity. Bill had such an enormous heart for people like me.”

I was covering Greene County courts and Schenck’s office for the Dayton Daily News when Sherry Byrne was slain, and also covered the subsequent trial of David Brewer, the former college fraternity brother of Joe Byrne’s who was convicted of Sherry’s murder.

Brewer lured Sherry Byrne to a motel room on March 21, 1985, raped her, and forced her into the trunk of his car before driving through a six-county area for much of the day. At one point, while Brewer was driving on U.S. 35 in Xenia, Byrne managed to scrawl “Help Me Please” in lipstick on a sign and force her hand through the trunk opening.

Motorists saw her hand and the sign and called Beavercreek police, who questioned Brewer later in the day but accepted his excuse of a hitchhiker’s prank and charged him with a misdemeanor count of inducing panic. Her body was later found stuffed in a self-storage unit. Brewer confessed to killing her.

An autopsy showed bruises and injuries consistent with rape. Byrne had been strangled and stabbed, and her throat had been slashed.

Schenck led the prosecution of the case in Greene County Common Pleas Court, and his cross-examination of Brewer helped secure a verdict of guilty with death-penalty specifications. Brewer was put to death 18 years after the slaying, in April 2003.

Joe Byrne said Schenck went well beyond the scope of his duties before, during and after the trial.

“He and I stayed in touch since 1985. I will always love this man as he, along with other great family and friends, helped me to want to live again. I will miss him and his great energy, love and personality.”

EARLER COVERAGE:

>> Families differ over execution merit

>> Longtime prosecutor cast a long shadow

>> Memories of former prosecutor William Schenck

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