Sheronda Norris

Do you know who murdered Sheronda Norris?
On a Sunday evening in Columbus, Ohio, 21-year-old Sheronda K. Norris told her family she was heading to her aunt’s house on East 23rd Avenue. It was September 15, 1991, the last time her loved ones saw her alive. The young Black woman never made it to her destination. Her family was left to wonder where she could be, a question that would turn to anguish the very next day.

Around 5:00 p.m. on Monday, September 16, a motorist driving along a roadside in a developing area of northeast Franklin County made a devastating discovery. In a grassy area on the side of Agler Road, just east of Sunbury Road, lay Sheronda’s body. She was found nude, and an autopsy would later confirm she had been strangled to death. The events that transpired between her departure from her family's home and the discovery of her body remain a mystery, a void of information that has haunted her family and investigators for decades.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office launched a homicide investigation, but the case was difficult from the start. With the location of her death unknown and no witnesses to her abduction, detectives had few leads to follow. The area where she was found, near the border of Mifflin Township, was not far from the bustling city but remote enough to provide a killer with seclusion. Investigators were left to piece together a timeline and identify anyone who might have had contact with Sheronda in her final hours.

Tragedy would not leave the Norris family. Sheronda was a mother, and her son, Daniel E. Norris, passed away in 2007 at the age of 18. In 2019, another unthinkable loss struck the family when Sheronda's younger brother, Armon E. Norris, was shot and killed at the age of 37. His case, like his sister's, remains unsolved. These compounding tragedies underscore the deep and lasting pain the family has endured, losing two children to violence without ever seeing justice for either.

Over the years, law enforcement has continued to seek answers for Sheronda's murder. In October 2013, more than two decades after her death, her case was highlighted by the Ohio Attorney General’s Unsolved Homicides Initiative. Then-Attorney General Mike DeWine and Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott issued a public plea for information. "Although it has been 22 years since this horrific tragedy occurred, we will continue to work on serving justice for the Norris family," Sheriff Scott stated, urging anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it might seem, to come forward.

As of October 2013, the case remains an active and open investigation with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives believe someone in the community holds the key to finally closing this case and providing a measure of peace to a family that has suffered immeasurably. No suspects have ever been publicly named, and no arrests have been made.

Investigators are still hoping for the one tip that will break the silence that has surrounded Sheronda Norris's case for more than thirty years. Anyone with information regarding the murder of Sheronda Norris is urged to contact the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office detective bureau at 614-525-3333. Tips can also be submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) at 855-BCI-OHIO.