A man who brutally murdered his wife 25 years ago in Streetsboro is up for parole. Michael York admitted to hitting his wife, Heather Sedivy, 25 times in the head with a hammer. Sedivy’s family and friends are begging the state parole board to deny his parole request.
“It’s something I’ll never forget… the mutilation of Heather,” said Streetsboro Police Department Lieutenant, Troy Beaver.
Beaver had been on the force for just four months when he was called to the scene and discovered Sedivy’s body.
“I remember walking through the apartment, seeing pictures of her and just I couldn’t wrap my head around, this mutilated body in the other room was the same beautiful girl that was in these pictures,” he said.
Beaver found 23 year old Sedivy dead in her Streetsboro apartment in August 1992. She had her head hit in with a hammer. Her husband, York, admitted to the heinous crime and told police when he learned Heather wanted to leave him and end their marriage, distraught, he waited till she went to sleep, covered her head with a sheet and began swinging.
“It was just, unbelievable to me at the time and it’s somebody who has no business in society and needs to stay where he’s at,” said Beaver.
This July will mark the third time York is up for parole. He was denied in 2002 and 2012, but this time, 25 years later, Sedivy’s family is making a desperate plea to the parole board to deny his parole and keep Heather’s killer behind bars. An online petition in support of this has garnered nearly 2,000 signatures. A statement from Heather’s mother on the petition website reads in part:
“My beloved daughter, Heather, was dead at just 23 years old. Now since Michael took her life, he should spend the rest of his life in prison.”
“She’s devastated by this, and I certainly think she feels the same way I do, Michael York needs to stay in prison,” said Beaver.
If his parole is denied, York will likely be eligible again in five years.
