Killer DiMarco Turned Me Into A Nutjob...Temporarily

CLEVELAND - I have always been considered "weird" by most people's conventional standards and beliefs. Mark DiMarco probably confirmed everyone's suspicions.

He turned me into a bizarre nutjob for a while.

DiMarco was a murderer, abductor and alleged rapist, among other things before he committed suicide in a Youngstown prison. Today marks the 10th anniversary of his death, so I decided that it's a great time to bring up something that was um, sort of creepy that involved him and myself.

DiMarco became infamous in Cleveland lore because of his role in the 1996 murder of North Royalton nurse Mary Jo Pesho. He and Shannon Kidd acosted Pesho at Parmatown Mall on January 2, 1996, kidnapped her, supposedly raped her (although her autopsy seemed to contradict that) and then murdered her. Both young men, 17 at the time were able to avoid arrest for a long while. By the Spring of 1998, they had been sentenced to long prison terms. Kidd was helpful to the prosecution and received a "light" 40 years, which was almost nothing compared to what DiMarco got. The sinister mastermind of the entire crime was given 94 years to life.

For whatever reason, I became fascinated with the case as well as the smug DiMarco himself. Once he took his own life, he seemed like a martyr, if only to me. While the rest of the city detested him, I was busy writing on napkins stupefying things like, "DiMarco for President." I often touted him as being a role model and even lied to people saying that I attended his funeral.

Coincidentally, I just happened to have a friend that knew DiMarco personally. In fact, she was one of several individuals that did a very brief stint in prison for perjury in his case. She allowed me to hear recorded conversations between she and Kidd while he was incarcerated and even read me a letter he sent her. This girl also was friends with DiMarco's girlfriend Jennifer Ray, who was also jailed for perjury.

I felt like I was a part of history!

I went so far as to design a T-shirt with DiMarco's photo on it. I also replicated his suicide note in magic marker and affixed DIMARCO across the top back of the shirt as if it were a sports jersey. I wore the shirt to work under another shirt and when I revealed it, I sparked a lot of glares and hushed whispers. Everyone locally knew of the case and DiMarco well, so I became persona non grata very easily.

Weirdo.

The final straw may have been when my buddy, the girl that was DiMarco's friend surprised me by bringing his girlfriend to my 22nd birthday party. I was giddy with excitement and once they arrived, I asked Ray (his girlfriend) a plethora of questions pertaining to him. When I showed her the controversial shirt, she was flattered and overjoyed that I was such a "fan."

Everyone else wanted to have me committed.

My friend actually brought me a copy of his obituary, but redacted the info detailing the location of his burial. She actually felt that if I knew where he was buried, I might go and try to "dig him up!" I know it sounds crazy, but the way I behaved at the time ... it was a very smart thing to assume.

I even jokingly suggested inviting him (read: his corpse) to my party. One of my other female friends remarked at the time, "if you do that, people will be scared to sit by him." Talk about insanity.

Bottom line, I understood then as I do now the seriousness of DiMarco's transgressions.  I wasn't trying to make light of the horrific things he did, nor did I truly think he was a hero or role model. It was just another example of my sometimes over-the-top idiosyncrasies and all-out bizarre mentality. I believe it to be the remnants of my legendary shock tinged sense of humor.

In any event, I want to officially put the DiMarco debacle to bed. Let the man rest in peace.

Pesho's Murder Sent Killer DiMarco's Family Into Destruction

CLEVELAND - One of the most bizarre murder twists in Ohio history shattered one family and literally destroyed another.

It all started on this date in 1996.

Mary Jo Pesho, a 46-year old North Royalton nurse was returning Christmas gifts with her teen aged children at suburban Parmatown mall on Jan. 2, 1996. When they were about to leave the mall, Pesho told her children to wait near the mall's entrance while she went to retrieve the brand new family van from the parking lot.

That's the last time her family saw her alive.

Amazingly, Pesho stepped into the van and was accosted by two teens without anyone in the lot noticing. The teens, Mark DiMarco and Shannon Kidd, both 17 held her at gunpoint and forced her to drive away from the mall. Over the next several hours, DiMarco and Kidd repeatedly raped and taunted Pesho, eventually burning her with the vehicle's cigarette lighter. She was found dead at a rapid station, the victim of a gunshot wound.

The two young men were eventually sought out and arrested for the crime. They both were found guilty in 1998. DiMarco, the apparent shooter was sentenced to 94 years to life in prison.

DiMarco seemed on the verge of winning an appeal for a new trial in late '98, and by the early weeks of 1999 was said to be in good spirits while locked up. But on February 4, 1999, he "supposedly" committed suicide in his cell while leaving behind a cryptic note hailing himself as a soldier while labelling police as "crooked."

In the fall of 2001, DiMarco's mother Joyce Stewart, who served 90 days in jail for trying to block her son's prosecution was found murdered. Her dismembered body had been stuffed in five trash bags by her husband, William Stewart who was pulled over while driving erratically. Police noticed an arm protruding from one of the bags, to which Mr. Stewart responded, "that's my wife."

What a nut job.

When Stewart was arrested, he was placed in a cell and on suicide watch. It didn't matter. He was found hanging by a bed sheet but barely alive. He died a few weeks later.

This entire horrific saga was more chilling than any Hollywood film could ever be. It was all real life and no doubt took root in DiMarco's childhood if not long before that. With today being the 13th anniversary of the crime that started it all, I want to extend my sympathies to Pesho's children as well as her husband Raymond, who had initially been a suspect in her murder. I spoke with him not long after the murder of his wife, and again after DiMarco's suicide. By then, he had remarried and seemed happy.

Here's hoping that all of us can overcome such a tragedy the way he did, and avoid nut jobs like the DiMarcos and Stewarts.

Shannon Kidd actually seems normal in all of this.