Saturday, July 26, 2025, 10:45PM | 
MENU
Advertisement
Edward Surratt
1
MORE

Serial killer admits to 2 Findlay deaths in 1977

Florida Department of Corrections

Serial killer admits to 2 Findlay deaths in 1977

Having just received his first paycheck from a busboy job at a nearby fast-food restaurant, John Feeny, 17, decided to take his girlfriend, Ranee Gregor, days shy of 16, on a date. He left with her in his family's rusted yellow van. They headed to a remote area of Findlay called lovers' lane. Hours later, on Oct. 22, 1977, the boy was shotgunned to death. The girl was missing.

They became two victims connected -- for years, only by widespread suspicion -- to serial killer Edward Surratt.

Now, almost 30 years later, Mr. Surratt has admitted to six unsolved murders, including the pair of teenagers, Beaver Township, Ohio, Police Chief Carl Frost said yesterday.

Advertisement

Mr. Surratt, currently serving multiple life sentences in Florida, was long suspected by police to have committed at least 18 murders, most of them in Ohio and Pennsylvania. During the fall and winter of 1977-78, Mr. Surratt pulled the region into a panic, most often by entering homes, shooting the male and often raping and killing the female.

Edward Surratt is led to a hearing by sheriff's Deputies Ronald Bochenek, left, and Ben Tillman in an archive photo.
Nick Trombola
Serial killer confesses to murders of 6 people across Pa., including 3 in Beaver County

Mr. Surratt also admitted, Chief Frost said, to the 1977 murders of David A. Hamilton and his wife, Linda; and John J. Davis and his wife, Mary. Those were the four unsolved cases in Mr. Frost's township.

He received a reminder of that following last year's county fair, when somebody -- he doesn't know who -- wrote the names of the Davis couple atop a photograph, posted at the fair, of the area police department. After a series of phone calls, Chief Frost arranged for two investigators in Florida -- one representing the Bal Harbour, Fla., police and one representing "America's Most Wanted" -- to question Mr. Surratt.

For his cooperation, Mr. Surratt wanted a transfer to a prison in South Carolina, where in 1978 he'd been convicted of killing a man with a baseball bat. He has been told prisons in that state have spring mattresses and air conditioning. Florida is willing to cooperate with the move, Chief Frost said, "because they're interested in getting rid of him anyway. He has been a pain."

Advertisement

Mr. Surratt, 65, a Marine Corps veteran and a former Aliquippa truck driver, agreed to speak only with the "America's Most Wanted" representative, Joe Matthews, a former homicide detective. He told Mr. Matthews that the bodies of both Linda Hamilton and Ranee Gregor, never found, were "unrecoverable."

Other details, Chief Frost said, were vague.

"He didn't sit down and say, 'I went in this door and I shot him when he said this.' He didn't give us the full admissions," Chief Frost said.

Police now want more details about the six murders and admissions to other unsolved cases. Chief Frost plans, perhaps within the next month, to travel to Florida to assist with the process.

After Ranee Gregor's disappearance, her parents kept the girl's room exactly as she'd left it. On the night of his date, John Feeny had been instructed to return the van to his parents by 10 p.m., so his mother -- who worked nights -- could drive to work. Rita Feeny, John's mother, says the loss "is still raw."

"I'd like my son back," she said. "That's not going to happen ... and I have to face that reality. If you have to be blunt, my son bled to death in our car; the fancy medical term is exsanguinate. But ... it's still there. You think about that on birthdays. There's a hole in all of your holidays. In everything. And it comes to the surface every so often, when you think about what would have happened if he'd had a chance to grow up."

First Published: February 27, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
A huge Canadian flag carried by a crowd in Montreal in 1995, before a referendum on Quecec’s independence. Dennis Jett suggests Pennsylvania do the same in reverse.
1
opinion
Dennis Jett: Pennsylvania should become part of Canada
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers throws a touchdown pass to DK Metcalf during Steelers Training Camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe on Friday, July 25, 2025.
2
sports
Steelers training camp observations: Aaron Rodgers, receivers bring 'wow' factor to Day 2
There is a large covered porch at the front of the house at 115 Forest Hills Road in Forest Hills.
3
life
Buying Here: Forest Hills home in its own 'mini-forest' listed for $425,000
Several houses are shown along N. Dallas Avenue near Penn Avenue in Point Breeze with “For Sale” signs in the front yard, Friday, March 21, 2025.
4
business
A cooling market and patient buyers are causing many Pittsburgh home sellers to cut their prices
A woman charged under the name Shannon Nicole Womack is accused of using fake names, fake references and fake credentials at staffing agencies to secure nursing jobs across Pennsylvania and beyond. Pennsylvania State Police urged health care providers across the state to check their records and study the woman’s photo to help identify other facilities she might have duped.
5
news
Pittsburgh 'fake nurse' linked to 5 more Pennsylvania facilities
Edward Surratt  (Florida Department of Corrections)
Florida Department of Corrections
Advertisement
LATEST uncategorized
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story