In March 1973, nine-year-old Roxie Ann Keathley went about her usual way of trying to obtain a little spending money; she asked neighbors in her Lorain County, Ohio apartment complex if they had any pop bottles that she could have to cash in. On March 12, Timothy Papp told Roxie that she should come back to his apartment later, after Roxie approached him in the apartment parking lot. Roxie was last seen alive at approximately 5 pm that evening.
Suspicion quickly turned to Papp in Roxie’s disappearance after it was reported that Timothy Papp told another man that he would like to have Roxie “do a head job on him.” During the third police interrogation, on March 23, Papp mentioned that he had a blue foot locker missing. After Papp drew a map showing the location of the missing foot locker, Roxie’s body was discovered, covered with leaves and debris, close to the location of the foot locker.
Hair and blood samples inside the foot locker were identified as being a match to Roxie's hair and blood. The Lorain County medical examiner testified that Roxie had been sexually assaulted both vaginally and rectally “prior to her death or while she was in the act of dying,” according to Block Parole. While awaiting trial, Timothy Papp confessed to another inmate that he had committed the rape, strangled Roxie and then concealed her body in the foot locker to avoid detection.
It only took three days for the jury to convict Papp, who was sentenced to two life terms in prison which were to run consecutively, which means one life term and then the other. Papp won a new trial on appeal because it was determined that he had been denied an attorney while being questioned by a Lorain County Sheriff’s captain. Again, he was convicted. But this time, his life sentences were to run concurrently, which means both terms are served at the same time.
Papp was indicted in Franklin County in 1979 after he conspired with another inmate to have his ex-wife, who had testified against him as well as the Lorain County Prosecutor killed. He was convicted in Franklin County of “Complicity to commit aggravated murder,” according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.
Now, as reported by The Morning Journal, Papp is up for parole in March 2013. Bret Vinocur, Block Parole President, told the Morning Journal that “We got one vicious child killer.” He described Papp as being a man who is “6 foot 4 and 300 pounds” who preyed on nine-year-old Roxie.
While the Morning Journal and other media sources are reporting on Papp’s upcoming parole hearing, Block Parole has a petition which individuals can sign to attempt to block Papp’s parole, which will be considered by the State of Ohio Adult Parole Board at the March hearing. Vinocur says that due to Timothy Papp's convictions related to raping and murdering Roxie Ann Keathley in Lorain County as well as his complicity to commit aggravated murder in Franklin County, Papp should not be released because “paroling Papp would pose an extreme risk to any child who would come into contact with him as well as seriously endanger the community.”
Roxie Ann Keathley's family moved out of the area a year after the murder. Refusing to attend the parole hearing in March, Roxie's mother said she does not want to see Papp's face and believes he should remain incarcerated.
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