Family of Streetsboro woman murdered in 1992 trying to block husband's parole

Streetsboro Police Lt. Troy Beaver still remembers the first inkling that the phone call he answered nearly 30 years ago was going to be more than just a welfare check.

"There was just blood all over the walls everywhere," he said of the scene.

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It was Aug. 3, 1992. Beaver was at the Streetsboro home of 23-year-old Heather Sedivy, who was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer in her bed. She owned the condominium with her husband, Michael S. York. A jury would find York not guilty of aggravated murder, instead convicting him of murder, the following October. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison and is currently incarcerated in the Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster, about 36 miles southeast of Columbus.

But every five years, York, now 56, has a chance at parole and his next scheduled hearing before the Ohio Parole Board is on Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections. As of Friday, more than 6,200 people had signed a petition at https://www.change.org/p/concerned-citizens-help-us-stop-parole-of-my-daughter-s-murderer to give to the parole board. It was set up by Betty Sedivy, Heather's mother, who declined through the police department to be interviewed for this story.

"My beloved daughter died alone in the most horrible pain," the petition reads.  "She had to be so scared. Since Michael York killed her, he should spend the rest of his life in prison."

According to BlockParole.com, an Ohio-based non-profit that works to keep violent offenders in prison, Sedivy was an athlete from early childhood, taking gymnastics, dancing, swimming and diving lessons and was on her school's baseball and gymnastics teams. She eventually found a job as a part-time dental assistant and decided to make the dental profession her career, with the aim of becoming a dental hygienist.

"She loved to help people and this gave her the opportunity to help people while doing something she enjoyed," the post states.

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She mostly wanted to be a mother, but the website alleges that York was "controlling" and the marriage was an unhappy one, with Sedivy planning to seek a divorce.

'It was just unbelievable'

Beaver was a young patrol officer with the Streetsboro department at the time, only a few months on the job. His only previous experience in law enforcement was as a reserve officer in Brimfield, so he had never seen anything like what he was about to see that day. And he said he doesn't believe he has seen anything that matches it since.

"I've had calls similar to that, but I don't think anything was quite as brutal and gruesome as that," he said.

According to a police incident report, police and EMS responded to the Sedivy home during the early afternoon of Aug. 3 after an Ohio Bell telephone operator reported receiving a call from the condo and hearing someone "moaning" on the line. Beaver said the call was made by York.

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When there was no response inside the home, an officer climbed onto a balcony, looked into a window and saw a large amount of blood in the living room. Officers then forced their way into the home. York was found laying in a hallway, his wrists cut.

Beaver and another officer searched the home and found Heather Sedivy in a bedroom, laying on a bed and surrounded by blood. A pillow was over her face and her hand clutched a ripped sheet that didn't match the sheets on the bed. A blood pattern on the sheet indicated it had been over her face at some point.

She had been struck more than two dozen times in the head. There were injuries to her arms that appeared to be defensive, as if she had used them to defend herself, according to the report.

"The thing I can remember most going through my mind was just seeing her in the bed and then seeing the pictures over on the wall and just, it was just unbelievable," said Beaver, recalling the scene last week. "That mutilated body in the bed was the same pretty young girl whose pictures were on the walls of the condominium."

After that, a search warrant was obtained and law enforcement searched the home for evidence late into the evening.

Beaver said York was taken to a hospital for treatment for the cuts on his wrists and then arrested.

Support for denying parole

At the end of the post at BlockParol.com, Betty Sedivy writes, "Based on the facts, we are truly afraid that if Michael York is paroled, he will either come after our family or another woman who scorns him.

"Michael York is alive and able to lead a reasonably normal life, but Heather is in a dark box in the ground. I am forever broken-hearted and miss Heather every day. Our entire family has been devastated by this murder."

On the Change.org petition several people have posted comments, including a woman who said she was Heather Sedivy's cousin, who wrote, "what was done to her was absolutely horrific. ... The fact that Heather's family even has to go through trying to keep this monster in prison every 5 years is a crime. To have to relive what was done, bring up that brutal night over and over is beyond cruel. "

Beaver said he has written a letter to the parole board in support of denying York's parole. He does not mince words about his feelings.

"I'm of the mindset that I believe there was enough evidence at the time to suggest that his actions were premeditated," Beaver said. "I believe they were calculated. As far as I'm concerned, he can spend the rest of his life in prison without parole."

Reporter Jeff Saunders can be reached at jsaunders@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Murdered Streetsboro woman's family trying to block husband's parole