Kimberly Simon: The Unsolved Homicide Victim

2021-08-15 19:50:21 Written by Jones Jay

Kimberly Simon was born on January 12th, 1969, and resided with her parents in Oneida County, New York. Described by friends and family, Kimberly Simon was a kind and caring teenage girl. She was humble and quiet, but to those who were privileged to know her, she was fun and full of life. As a teenager in the 1980s, she loved music, parties, football games, going to the mall, and talking on the phone. Reading through her Memoriam website, it’s flooded with accounts of people who remember her fondly and are deeply troubled by what occurred to her.

On September 18th, 1985, Kim Simon was last seen leaving her home at 9197 River Road in Marcy and began walking to Whitesboro Junior High School. She was set to meet her friend, Lynda Fiorini, amongst others, to attend a football game at the school that night. This was her last available whereabouts. She never arrived at the school, and at 11:30 pm she was reported missing by her family. The following day on September 19th, her body was found in a wooded area near the Mohawk River, in the town of Whitesboro. This wooded area was off of Mohawk Street, not far from her home, and the route that Kim was to take to meet her friends at the school that night. Kim had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. A bruise on her face indicated that she had been struck at least once in the head.

 

Later discovered were some personal belongings from Kim’s purse and shreds of paper, which were found near Carolyn Court Apartments by Clinton Street in New York Mills. Days later on September 23rd, Kim’s white shoe was discovered in the Sauquoit Creek under a bridge near Clinton Street in New York Mills.

 

INVESTIGATION:

 

On the night of her killing, witnesses recalled seeing Kim speaking to a young man in a truck along Mohawk Street as she was walking towards Whitesboro Junior High School. A sketch of the male was released, and he was described as being between the ages of 18 to 23 years old, with sandy brown/brown shoushoulder-length. The car he drove was said to be a late 1970’s Chevy or GMC pickup truck, maroon or brown.

From here it was thought that Kim may have been picked up by this individual or someone else with a car and brought to a popular hangout spot amongst locals called “The Pit” or “Three Bears”, where a party was being held that night. This spot is along the Sauquoit Creek in New York Mills, not far from where her shoe and belongings were found. A witness claims to have seen Kim at this area that night, along with four males. These four males reportedly were known for satanic rituals and involvements in the occult. This witness they were hiding behind a tree and saw one of the males having sex with Kim who seemed to have been drugged and oblivious.

 

Her family claims that Kim would have never gone to this party willingly.

 

Three Whitesboro residents reported that on the night of Kimberly’s murder, they had heard horrific screams between 1:00 – 2:00 am, believed to have come from another hangout spot located at Hart’s Hill Elementary School on Clinton Street, called the “Water Tower”. These residents stayed about 2 miles from where Kim’s body was found.

 

SUSPECT AND ARREST:

 

Quickly, police focused their attention on 19-year-old Steven Barnes after it was reported that Kim was seen walking that night and a truck similar to Barnes was parked nearby. When questioned, Barnes’ brother-in-law declared that he did see a woman getting into a truck along that road, but that it was not Barnes’ truck, nor confirmed that the woman was Kim. Barnes was also given an alibi when others came forward saying they had seen Barnes at a local bowling alley during the evening of the murder.

 

Barnes was officially questioned by police on September 21st, 3 days after Kimberly Simon’s murder. Barnes denied any interest in Kim’s murder throughout his 12 straight hours of questioning, saying he was only in the same area as Kim that night because he was driving to the bowling alley where he came at 6:00 pm. Barnes submitted many DNA samples to the police.

 

Two years later in March of 1988, Barnes was officially arrested and charged with rape and sodomy in the first degree, and murder in the second degree. A year later in 1989, he was sent to 25 years to life in prison, even though his DNA tested inconclusive for being found on Kimberly or at the crime scene, and eye witness testimonies against him were few and weak.

 

EXONERATION:

 

In 2007, the Innocence Project funded and opened a case on Barnes’ to prove his innocence in Kim’s murder. Newley's advanced DNA testing verified that DNA related to Kim’s rape and murder did not match Barnes. A year later, Steven Barnes was released and exonerated after serving 19 years in prison. He eventually received a $3.5 million settlement for his wrongful conviction and detention.

 

New testing on the DNA not only revealed none of it related to Barnes; it was now confirmed that these samples collected from Kimberly’s body came from two men and one woman.

 

RE-EXAMINATION OF THE CASE:

 

A multi-agency task force began to re-examine Kimberly Simon’s case, leading to the interviewing of hundreds of people who may have information or involvement. Much of this questioning and investigating focused on three people that Kimberly was seemingly seen with the night of her murder. Police offer up more information on these individuals, saying that along with an obsession for the occult, there is a history of killing cats, abusing hallucinogens, and sexually abusing women amongst them. They remain persons of interest. One of the suspects, Allison Scranton, died in 1997 but police are still looking into her involvement or if she may have known what occurred.

 

Less than a month after Kimberly’s murder, a 19-year-old from Whitesboro named Michele Mikalajunas committed suicide. It’s thought she knew what happened to Kimberly Simon.

 

 

35 years after his murder, no arrest has been made in Kim’s case. It remains unsolved.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

Her murder happened in the 1980s, during the height of the Satanic Panic. I have to wonder how much the Satanic/Ritualist aspect of this case is lore created by the townspeople because of the fear that surrounded that culture at the time?

 

I also wonder if the hysteria of the region surrounding Satanism caused the police to quickly arrest and convict Barnes as a way to distance themselves and their town from stirring up more fear of these Satanists and ritual murders? I couldn’t find any prior data on Steven Barnes so indicate that why the police were so quick to convict him with no proof.