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Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: News

When Lucian and Avalon Tenney spoke to their daughter, Gina, at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 29, 1985, they never imagined that it would be the last time they would ever hear her voice.

The Youngstown State University student told her parents she was on her way to meet a girlfriend that evening. She was never seen alive again.

On the morning of Dec. 30, 1985, a trapper checking his traps saw a body floating in the Mahoning River near the West Avenue Bridge. Later, that morning, the Tenneys received a fateful call.

The Youngstown Police requested that the Tenneys make a positive identification of a young woman found murdered. It was their 19-year-old daughter, Gina Tenney.

A little over one week ago, the 22-year-old cold case resurfaced.

At 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, as Bennie Lee Adams was on his way home from work, he was arrested and charged with the aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping and aggravated burglary in the 1985 Tenney case. He was arraigned in Youngstown Municipal Court, and bond was set at $1.75 million. Adams' preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 23 in the Mahoning County Municipal Court.

Five days before Gina's body was found, she reported a burglary at her apartment, suspecting that a 28-year-old male staying with her first floor neighbor was responsible. Jay Macejko, Youngstown city prosecutor, was reported to have said Gina "was leery" of the man.

The same man she suspected was indeed Adams — and was later charged with possession of stolen property because he had Gina's ATM card in his possession. The case was never prosecuted.

In 1986, Adams was convicted for the kidnapping, rape and robbery of a Boardman woman. He was released from prison in 2004, after serving an 18-year sentence. He is a registered sex offender.

Two decades have passed, but the Tenneys' memories of that horrific day in December 1985 and of their daughter are still fresh in their minds.

"I'm glad they finally caught him. He doesn't deserve to be on the streets," said soft-spoken Avalon. "I've forgotten a lot of things, but I'll never forget my Gina. She was a beautiful, pleasant joy to us."

Avalon said her family, of Ashtabula, holds no grudge against Youngstown or YSU.

"We haven't been back since her death because we had no reason to visit," the victim's mother said, however adding, "We will be at his hearing."

The parents of another daughter who lives in Brunswick continued to reflect on Gina.

"We miss her and remember the good things about her. Our lives have to go on without her; we take it day-to-day," Avalon said.



DNA testing heats up cold case

After Tenney's murder, the evidence from her rape was preserved and stored by the Youngstown Police Department. For 22 years the case lay cold and dormant until Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann instructed the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to create a DNA database to investigate old rape and murder cases.

Part of the evidence stored was a blood-determining serology test that was done on Adams in 1985. It was only able to prove that he had the same blood type and could not prove conclusively that he was the perpetrator.

The serology report and other evidence collected from the 1985 crime scene were sent to a Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation lab. Reports published in the Oct. 5 Vindicator state "partial DNA evidence" point to Adams.

"DNA procedures used today are much more accurate," said Robert Wardle, forensic science instructor at YSU.

"The Short Tandem Repeat test [a DNA test that involves swabbing the inside of the cheek] produces conclusive results. There is a 1 in 500 trillion chance that the sample belongs to someone else. With only 7 billion people on this earth the chances of that happening are highly unlikely," he said.

Wardle went on to say that the sample is most likely a definite match.

"It's nice to see results in this unresolved case. It is commendable that the police preserved the evidence," Wardle said.



YSU remembers Gina Tenney

University President David Sweet was unaware of the circumstances surrounding Tenney's death until Cynthia Anderson, Vice President for Student Affairs, briefed him over the weekend of Oct 5.

"This illustrates the importance of forensic science and it's contributions to law enforcement," Sweet said of the case's evidence.

"This is an occasion for all who new and loved her to have some sort of closure. I think it only appropriate for the university to continue to honor her memory on the upcoming 22nd anniversary of her death," Sweet said.

On January 14, 1986, YSU held a memorial service for the former YSU student and Ashtabula native.

In December of 1987, two years after her murder, the university held a dedication ceremony for a Gina Tenney memorial sculpture, made by a YSU senior.

The sculpture and a metal plaque honoring Gina's memory hang on the outside wall of Bliss Hall near the Ford Auditorium entrance. The plaque inscription reads: "May her memory inspire us to achieve our fullest potential and glorify God through His gift of the fine arts."

There is also an endowed scholarship in her memory at YSU.

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