Nine Year Mystery of Missing Woman Ends
Jim Nichols and Rachel Dissell
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
____________________
Cleveland, Ohio (US):
For nine years, Stacy Balas' whereabouts were a mystery. The 25-year-old North Ridgeville woman disappeared from her job at a Fairview Park Subway sandwich shop in November 1996. Now authorities believe they finally know what became of her: Her co-worker, a career criminal from Cleveland, strangled her from behind at work, then dumped her body into a trash receptacle.
That man, imprisoned sex offender Larry Wade, 46, was charged Thursday with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
"This person . . . needs to pay," said the victim's father, David Balas of Columbia Station. Wade could pay with an 80-years-to-life sentence if convicted. He was to be released next year from a 10-year term at the Madison Correctional Institution for trying to rape a real estate agent at a Shaker Heights open house a month after Balas disappeared.
On Friday, authorities told Balas' family that Wade had admitted that he killed her just before midnight on Nov. 25, 1996, after she had rebuffed a sexual advance in the sub shop's kitchen. Nov 04, 2005
Jim Nichols and Rachel Dissell
Cleveland Plain Dealer, OH
____________________
Cleveland, Ohio (US):
For nine years, Stacy Balas' whereabouts were a mystery. The 25-year-old North Ridgeville woman disappeared from her job at a Fairview Park Subway sandwich shop in November 1996. Now authorities believe they finally know what became of her: Her co-worker, a career criminal from Cleveland, strangled her from behind at work, then dumped her body into a trash receptacle.
That man, imprisoned sex offender Larry Wade, 46, was charged Thursday with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
"This person . . . needs to pay," said the victim's father, David Balas of Columbia Station. Wade could pay with an 80-years-to-life sentence if convicted. He was to be released next year from a 10-year term at the Madison Correctional Institution for trying to rape a real estate agent at a Shaker Heights open house a month after Balas disappeared.
On Friday, authorities told Balas' family that Wade had admitted that he killed her just before midnight on Nov. 25, 1996, after she had rebuffed a sexual advance in the sub shop's kitchen. Nov 04, 2005