The True Story Behind the Park Bench Murders

In unsolved mystery Volume 5, the first episode follows the story of two friends who are murdered in a park in Cleveland, Ohio, in what is now known as the Park Bench Murders. unsolved mystery Paranormal originated in 1987 as a mystery and true crime series that ran for 12 seasons. The series was rebooted by Netflix in 2020 and the fifth installment of the series was recently added to the streaming platform. The new season doesn’t just explore the Park Bench Murders But several other cases, including The Roswell UFO incident and a ghostly entity named Becky.

In boring new unsolved mystery episode, the audience meets two friends, Kate Brown and Kernel Sledge. Kate and Cornell were longtime friends Who had a seemingly on-off relationship. They will be close for a while, separate for a while, and then reunite as if no time had passed. Both men had loving and supportive families, and neither Kate nor Cornell had any dark or mysterious dealings. Thus, their sudden killing in 2019 was incredibly shocking. Worse, the crime was difficult to solve and continued to confuse the police.

Carnell Sledge and Katherine Brown were killed in a Cleveland park in 2019.

Timeline of Carnell and Kate’s murders

The story of Carnell and Kate’s murder begins on June 4, 2019. After setting up a time to meet via text message and phone call, Cornell and Kate met at a park called the Rocky River Reservation. The two were sitting on a bench and talking. However, the couple were later found dead with gunshot wounds to the back of the head by a couple nearby. Although the park was a busy area, full of joggers and vehicles, no one witnessed the crime. It seems someone walked up behind Kernel and Kate, killed them, then disappeared.

What makes Carnell and Kate’s murders even stranger is the short timeline in which they occurred. According to unsolved mystery’ Case, Kate, and Cornell made contact around 4:15 p.m. Kate left the gym and Cornell left work around 4:30 and the two headed to the park. They reached around five o’clock. At 5:08 PM, it is recorded that Kate unlocks and checks her phone. yet It was only at 5:22 that the couple found Kate and Carnell dead. It was only 14 minutes before the crime was committed, but the suspect left the scene.

Ken Sledge and Brown came to the park that day

Cornell and Kate’s relationship is explained

One of the biggest mysteries to come out of it unsolved mystery Episode Ken Kernell and Kate met that day. Although Kate and Cornell were friends, their family members did not know the two were datingAnd not entirely sure why they had such a last minute meeting Notably, the Colonel had a family dinner to attend at 5. Therefore, the meeting was probably urgent. In the episode, Kate’s family made it clear that Kate and Cornell would go to each other with their problems, so one of them could be having a bad day.

Another theory posited by unsolved mystery The episode is that The Colonel wanted to meet Kate to confess his feelings for her. According to Kate’s sister, about a month before the murder, Kate revealed that Carnell thought they would end up together. It’s unclear if Kate reciprocated those feelings, but regardless, Carnell may have wanted to follow up with Kate about his feelings or have a more serious conversation about it that just couldn’t wait. Without access to their phone calls, it’s hard to understand why they met that day.

What witnesses said about the deaths of Colonel Sledge and Katherine Brown

Why did no one see the crime?

A particularly poignant aspect of the Park Bench murders is that a witness was sitting just feet away from the scene of the crime while it was taking place. At the time of Carnell and Kate’s murder, a roofer was sitting on his truck Doing paperwork in a nearby parking lot. Although the bench the pair sat on was only a few feet away, Roof apparently did not notice any violent activity. Most amazingly, I didn’t even hear the gunshots. Thus, the deaths of Carnell and Kate could have been witnessed if the roof had been looking up.

Apart from Roof, there were no other witnesses to the crime. It was especially odd considering how busy the Rocky River Reservation is, especially around 5 o’clock when people get off work. Despite many cars passing by, No one noticed that Carnell and Kate were shot dead. It’s unfortunate, but it’s probably because bystanders were too busy paying attention to the road ahead of them. Moreover, the bench they were sitting on was also shaded by a tree. Thus, Cornell and Kate were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Is there a motive or suspect for the Park Bench murder?

Park bench murders can be completely random

The Park Bench murders are completely unsolved, and unfortunately, there aren’t many leads. Some of the suspects the police considered were Roof, Cornell’s ex-girlfriend, Kate’s ex-boyfriend, and a man Kate had recently dated who had previously killed someone. Each of these suspects had alibis that cleared them of being the killers of Cornell and Kate. Some members of Kate and Cornell’s family believed the pair were possibly followed Rocky River Reservation, but there is no specific person who points to the crime. Neither Kate nor the Colonel had any known enemies or intentions against them.

Another theory is that the Park Bench murders were completely random, or a hate crime. It has been mentioned unsolved mystery That Cleveland has a history of hate groups and violent discrimination based on race, religion, etc. Thus, some believe that Carnell and Kate may have been killed because Carnell was African American. On the other hand, it may have had nothing to do with ethnicity and was truly a random act. regardless, unsolved mystery Let’s shed some light on this strange and difficult crime.