The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 11

Sunday, April 26, 1981 Akron Beacon Journal A 1 1 Mm unfold Milo story raer trial to is ween yew-'-- tv i I 4 A atJMfc- mill a f- ift f4f'! iiWliiflrlnawfcMiwn HMiWfa itomwmiwrri 1,. I Anthony II. Ridle Raymond T. Sesic Terry Lea King Barry Boyd Thomas Dee Mitchell 5 zio pleaded guilty to testify for state murder. A former Stow resident and former employee of the Milo firm, Ridle was a friend of Sesic's while the two lived in the Akron area and worked at the Milo company.

Ridle reportedly was another go-between in efforts to hire Milo's killer. He is being held in the Summit Cunty Jail in lieu of $200,000 bond while awaiting sentencing. Terry Lea King, 32, a former Akron go-go dancer, pleaded guilty Dec. 15 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Mrs.

King reportedly was unsuccessful in an attempt last summer to hire a killer. Her failure to hire a killer allegedly led Frederick Milo to Sesic and later to Ridle, who succeeded in hiring a killer. Mrs. King, who has applied for probation as a drug-dependent person, is being held in the Summit County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. Thomas Dee Mitchell, 32, is serving a l-to-5-year sentence in the Marion Correctional Institution in Marion, Ohio, for destroying evidence in the Milo case.

Mitchell, formerly of Norton, pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to a charge of obstructing justice. He reportedly turned down an offer last July of $10,000 to kill Milo. In October, Mitchell received a phone call from Mrs. King instructing him to destroy a letter in which the offer ws made, and Mitchell complied.

He is to return to Akron on May 14 for a shock probation hearing. Raymond T. Sesic, 30, of Columbus, a former employee of the Milo Beauty and Barber Supply Co. of Stow, pleaded guilty Dec. 29 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Sesic, formerly of Uniontown, was fired by Dean Milo in the fall of 1979 from his job at the Milo company and, according to Beacon Journal sources, ran through the company's executive offices shouting curses at Dean Milo over the firing. Reportedly, Sesic was a go-between in efforts to hire Milo's killer. Sesic is being held in the Summit County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond while awaiting sentencing. Anthony H. Ridle, 34, of Tempe, pleaded guilty Jan.

28 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated Five persons have pleaded guilty to involvement in the murder of Dean Milo and are expected to be prosecution witnesses in the trial of Frederick P. Milo: Barry M. Boyd, 36, a former Akron attorney who has been a friend of Frederick Milo's since childhood and who represented Frederick Milo in lawsuits against Dean Milo, pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. Boyd kept records of the murder conspiracy, including records of money that changed hands among conspirators, according to court documents.

Boyd's law license was revoked March 12 by the Ohio Supreme Court. He is being held in the Summit County Jail in lieu of bond while awaiting sentencing. Gag order silenced witnesses Continued from page Al spiracy masterminded by Milo led to the death of his brother. It also is expected that defense attorneys will argue that a conspiracy, if there was one, did not result in Dean Milo's death. Milo was slain by someone other than those who have been accused, defense attorneys are expected to say.

CONSTANTINE R. "Dean" Milo, 41, was found dead Aug. 11, clad ony in underwear, a few feet inside the front door of his Bath Township home. He had been shot twice in the head. Prosecutors have labeled, it a contract killing.

Milo was president of the Milo Beauty and Barber Supply Co. of Stow, a $45-million-a-year corporation with more than 100 retail outlets east of the Mississippi. At the time of his death, Dean Milo was embroiled in lawsuits with his brother, Frederick, and sister, Sophie Milo Curtis, over control of the corporation. In August 1979, Dean Milo fired his brother and sister from lucrative jobs with the corporation, alleging that they had converted $300,000 in corporate funds to their own use. Six weeks after the firing, Milo called his employees together in the company's warehouse and said, "I have a family problem.

I will handle the problem myself. I don't want you people involved. Just do your jobs. I think I'm capable of keeping my family problems and my business dealings separate." Fomer Milo employees who told the Beacon Journal of Dean Milo's remarks said the remarks indicated that an argument 10 months earlier between Dean and Frederick Milo over control of the firm had become an intense clash of wills. MEMBERS OP Akron's closely knit Greek-Albanian community said community members encouraged the brothers to try to settle their differences and brought them together for talks.

The talks ran through the winter, spring and summer of 1980, but the brothers could not reach agreement. Under a 1975 agreement set up by their parents, Dean and Frederick Milo and their sister, Mrs. Curtis, held equal shares of stock in the Milo corporation. But Dean Milo held the corporation's sole share of voting stock, which he could lose only if he tried to sell the corporation or if he died. After Dean Milo's death, the corporation was taken over by Frederick Milo and Mrs.

Curtis. A suit in Summit County Probate Court paved the way for the corporate takeover and marked the start of a legal battle between Dean Milo's widow, Magdaline, and her in-laws. That battle, over control of the Milo firm, continues. The probate hearings produced the first official word that detectives investigating the Milo murder considered family members suspects in the slaying. IN AN affidavit filed in the pro- successful in hiring a "hit man" to come to Akron to kill Dean Milo, the Beacon Journal reported.

Prosecutors and detectives have refused to discuss the identity or possible whereabouts of the "hit man" who killed Milo. AT A HEARING Feb. 6, Frederick Milo's attorney George Pappas of Akron won a change of venue in the case by arguing that pretrial publicity on the case would prevent Frederick Milo from receiving a fair trial in the Akron area. Judge Bayer agreed to move the trial to Columbus. But in the hearing, Pappas unleashed the most sensational publicity in the entire case by saying there was evidence that Dean Milo had been involved in sex just before he died and that a reel of homosexual stag film might be important to Frederick Milo's defense.

Pappas announced in the hearing that a reel of homosexual stag film taken from Dean Milo's house after the slaying had disap peared from the custody of investigators in the case. A sheriff's detective testified that he gave County Coroner A. H. Kyriakides four reels of pornographic film found at Milo's house. Kyriakides testified he received only three reels.

Detectives testified that the missing reel of film was a homosexual stag film. Pappas said, "Is there something in that film that I'm not supposed to see? Is there somebody in that film that doesn't want to be seen?" PAPPAS SAID he believed the film was removed for a purpose. "It just seems to me unusual that a reel of film disappears during the investigation of a murder," Pappas said. He added: "I'm not inferring Mr. Milo was a homosexual." In questioning investigators, Pappas brought out that evidence had been found at Dean Milo's house after the slaying indicating Milo had been involved in some kind of sexual activity just before he died.

Boyd, Sesic and Ridle pleaded guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and Mitchell pleaded guilty to a charge of destroying evidence in the case. Mitchell currently is serving a 1- to 5-year team in Marion Correctional Institution. The others are awaiting sentencing. The Beacon Journal reported early in January that the six people arrested Frederick Milo, Boyd, Sesic, Ridle, Mrs. King and Mitchell comprised two alleged conspiracies, one of which succeeded after a first had failed.

The theory among investigators at that time, the Beacon Journal learned, was that a group of conspirators allegedly including Frederick Milo, Boyd and Mrs. King searched in the summer of 1980 for someone to kill Dean Milo. The conspiracy failed when Mitchell turned down an offer of money to kill Milo, the Beacon Journal reported. A second group of conspirators allegedly including Frederick Milo, Boyd and Sesic later was weeks followng her arrest and reportedly told authorities nothing. She had pleaded innocent and was ready in early December to face a trial when detectives, with Dear's assistance, made their second arrest.

On Dec. 10, former Norton resident Thomas Dee Mitchell, 32, was arrested in a Dallas suburb on a charge of aggravated murder in the slaying. On Dec. 12, detectives arrested Akron attorney Barry M. Boyd on a charge of aggravated murder in the slaying.

Boyd was a long-time friend of both Frederick Milo and Mrs. King, and he had represented Frederick Milo in lawsuits against Dean Milo. On Dec. 15, Mrs. King pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

On Dec. 22, detectives acting simultaneously arrested Frederick Milo in Akron, Raymond T. Sesic, 30, in Columbus and Antony H. Ridle, 34, in Tempe, all on charges of aggravated murder. OVER THE next two months, bate case, Sheriff's Det.

Larry Momchilov said each of the family members "remains a suspect of criminal activity" in the case. On Sept. 5, officers of the corporation who took over the firm following Dean Milo's death hired Dallas private detective Bill Dear to look into the slaying. On Nov. 10, when Frederick Milo and Mrs.

Curtis took over the Milo corporation. Dear was fired, and immediately was rehired by Dean Milo's widow. Dear had received national publicity earlier for his involvement in the "Dungeons and Dragons" case involving a Dayton teen-ager, James Egbert, who disappeared from the Michigan State University campus, reportedly while playing the sophisticated hide-and-seek game. Dear also had received publicity in the Akron area for his investigation of the disappearance of two North Hill teen-agers, Mary Kay Leonard and Ricky Beard. Beard's car was found in Northampton Township in August 1979.

There was a bullet hole in the windshield. The teen-agers have not been found. Dear brought to the Milo case an arsenal of electonic gear and surveillance equipment which sheriff's detectives did not have. From the start of his involvement in the case, Dear worked closely with detectives. DEAR reportedly was instrumental in helping sheriff's detectives make their first arrest in the Milo case.

On Oct. 22, former Akron go-go dancer Terry Lea King was arrested on a charge of complicity to commit aggravated murder in connection with the slaying of Dean Milo. Mrs. King, 32, stayed in the Summit County Jail for seven TWO SMALL PRICES LOTS OF BIG BUYS ON Sears EAR Molt Hum reduced pr ttet KIDS' PLAYW Spring sundresses Pick a pair for your big or little girl fe 3: Hunger striker snubs human rights envoys Iff -l Jm Jf -1 4-V YOUR CHOICE YOUR CHOICE Little girls sizes for 1 88 who he said had "misled" his family into believing "that the commissioners would deliver up the protesting political prisoners' demands." One Protestant demonstrator was arrested in the scuffles outside Maze after the mediators went in, but no casualties were reported. IN ANOTHER development, a Catholic teen-ager died of wounds suffered in rioting fueled by Sands' hunger strike.

Paul Withers, 15, had been moved to a Belfast hospital after being struck in the eye by an anti-riot plastic bullet April 15 as police fired at a mob trying to break into a bakery in Londonderry, the province's second-largest city. Sands, 27, who was elected to the British Parliament earlier this month, is fasting in an attempt to gain political status for jailed Irish Republican Army activists, something the British government refuses to concede. Sands was believed to have only days to live. Roman Catholic extremists have threatened new violence if he dies, and Protestant militants have countered with warnings of reprisals that could lead to "civil war." Sands is serving a 14-year term 1 1 Centtnaed from page Al ly, Sands, who began his fast on March 1, said he and three other hunger strikers in Maze were prepared to die if Britain refused to grant their political-status demand. The other hunger strikers are Francis Hughes, who began fasting March 15, and Pat O'Hara and Roy McCreesh, who started March 22.

Sands also attacked Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey, 30 feared dead in bus accident CULIACAN, Mexico About 30 passengers died when a bus traveling from Mexico City to Tijuana crashed into an empty parked truck, overturned and burst into flames near this Pacific Coast port Saturday, a police spokesman said. Lt. Carlos Cuen Navarrete said 13 others were hospitalized with severe injuries. Ail the victims were believed to be Mexican citizens. First reports said the bus was headed from Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, to Mexico City.

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