This story contains sensitive information about sexual assault. If you are a survivor and need assistance, please reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit https://rainn.org.

As the sun began to set, 17-year-old Michelle Puett arrived at a park in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, planning to reflect on her college options.

However, her peaceful moment was shattered when a man armed with a knife attacked her, forcing her into the woods and subjecting her to multiple assaults.

When she finally found an opportunity to escape, Michelle ran back to the parking lot, where she found a police officer next to her car—a sight she described as miraculous.

For 37 years, Michelle never imagined she would discover who had assaulted her. Yet, this summer, police contacted her with news—it turned out they could identify her attacker. Astonishingly, the rape kit she provided in 1987 had helped solve the rape and murder of another local woman.

DNA analysis confirmed that Thomas Collier Jordan, who had passed away in Arizona in 2009, was responsible for both crimes.

Now a 55-year-old wife, mother, and business owner living in Oklahoma, Michelle was asked by detectives if she wanted to learn more about the man who had harmed her so long ago.

She declined.

“I don’t want to give him any more significance in my mind,” said Michelle, now known as Puett-Howard. “He was inhumane, and he doesn’t deserve my thoughts.”

Despite this, Michelle is eager to uncover information on other potential victims of Jordan. She hopes that sharing her experience will encourage others who may have suffered at his hands.

“I sincerely hope that families with unresolved cases can see that it’s feasible to find answers and should remain hopeful,” she stated.

The murder related to Michelle’s case was one of the largest unsolved mysteries in the Akron region. Three months following Michelle’s assault, Janice Christensen, a 31-year-old Cuyahoga Falls resident, was murdered—also raped and stabbed on a hiking trail. Unfortunately, DNA from Janice’s case alone was insufficient to resolve the investigation.

Jordan had a long criminal history spanning several states, prompting investigators to circulate a nationwide bulletin for local law enforcement to review other unsolved cases linked to him. They have discovered that Jordan lived and committed offenses in Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, and California.

Michelle’s assault at Cuyahoga Falls park

Just days before her graduation and prom at Firestone High School in Akron, Michelle visited the Top O’ the World section of Hampton Hills Metro Park on the evening of May 25, 1987.

She had received acceptance letters from several colleges, even landing a full scholarship. While her family recommended that she take that opportunity, Michelle was uncertain.

“I was in a state of indecision,” she recalled. “I went to the park to spend some time thinking.”

Michelle had frequented the park with friends and didn’t hesitate to go there alone.

“At 17, I felt invincible,” she said.

Michelle was sitting on a bench while observing the sunset. Afterward, she chose to stroll around an aged barn that still exists on the park grounds.

While she was walking, a man passed by, and she greeted him with a “hello.”

Suddenly, he attacked her from behind and pressed a knife against her neck.

“Follow my commands!” he threatened her.

“All right,” she replied.

The man dragged her into the woods, forced her down, and bound her hands and feet with shoelaces. Michelle closed her eyes tight.

For hours, he assaulted her repeatedly, leaving at intervals before coming back. After he was finished, he urinated on her.

He then inquired about which car was hers in the lot, and she indicated it. He took her car keys from her purse and drove away.

As darkness fell, Michelle summoned the courage to escape. She rolled onto her side and freed her ankles from the shoelaces. With her hands still tied behind her, she ran through the woods.

Eventually, Michelle spotted the parking lot and miraculously found a police car parked beside her vehicle. She rushed to it while shouting, attracting the attention of an officer who was simply taking a dinner break.

Shortly after, the park was illuminated with police lights as Cuyahoga Falls officers arrived with flashlights and a helicopter circling high above. They were unable to locate Michelle’s assailant but managed to recover her purse, keys, and the shoelaces that had been used to bind her feet.

Michelle was taken to the hospital, where a rape kit was performed. Although DNA testing was not available in 1987, the vaginal smears were preserved as potential evidence.

She also described her attacker for a sketch artist. It was a challenging task since she had kept her eyes shut during most of the assault, but she managed to recall enough details for the police: he was a white male, aged between 55 and 60, standing about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 155 pounds.

Michelle further described him as having a slender physique, dark hair that was starting to gray, light-colored eyes, silver-rimmed wire glasses with thick lenses, a full mustache, and wrinkles on his face, along with a ruddy or sunburned complexion.

After the assault, Michelle underwent her first Pap test, praying she wasn’t pregnant. She was relieved to find out she wasn’t.

Michelle’s Journey to Move Forward After the Assault

In the aftermath of the attack, Michelle faced tough choices as her eventful senior year was concluding. Should she attend prom? Should she participate in her graduation ceremony?

She ultimately chose to do both. She wore her cap and gown and took pictures with her family, although smiling was a challenge. She attended the prom, which she would later come to regret.

“It was a complete disaster, and I felt I owed an apology to my prom date because I was emotionally shattered,” she recounted.

When news broke about Janice Christensen’s murder on the Hike and Bike Trail that summer, Michelle was unaware. She suspects her family may have shielded her from the tragic news and the fear that her attacker could be a murderer.

Michelle began attending counseling, a practice she maintained throughout her life, and she chose to enroll at Ohio State University because it had fewer wooded areas than some other schools she was considering, as being around trees made her uneasy.

She struggled through the latter part of her sophomore year and then accepted her parents’ suggestion to spend time in Florida with her older brother, Roger Puett Jr., who had been experiencing serious challenges.

She was injured in a National Guard training incident.

She never went back to Ohio after that. Michelle completed her studies in women’s studies at the University of South Florida and started her first significant job raising funds for the American Cancer Society.

It was there that she met her husband, Tom Howard, and together they moved to Oklahoma, where she now operates an advertising agency known as Independent Brands.

After struggling with fertility issues, the couple successfully conceived through in vitro fertilization and now have a son who is 19 years old and attending college.

Over the years, Michelle faced challenges such as panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and issues with intimacy. She mentioned that it took her considerable time to reach a place where her experience of rape no longer defined her identity.

“Eventually, I was able to focus on the fact that I got back up, that I saved my own life, and I take pride in that,” she shared.

The anniversary of her rape on May 25 now passes with little notice from her.

Michelle Discovers Closure After Decades

Michelle never expected detectives to uncover the identity of her rapist.

“I know there are cases being solved with new DNA technology, but I never dreamed it would apply to my situation,” she reflected. “I just wanted to move on past it.”

When investigators requested her assistance in 1997 and again in 2014 to identify possible suspects from photo lineups, she declined, reasoning that having kept her eyes shut during the assault, she felt incapable of making a valid identification.

This June, Michelle received a call from her cousin, who lives in Silver Lake near Cuyahoga Falls. The cousin informed her that detectives wanted to discuss her rape case.

The day following her cousin’s call, she contacted detective Kevin Lohse, the latest in a line of detectives who have handled her case.

Lohse informed her that DNA testing had confirmed that Jordan was responsible for both her rape and the murder of Christensen, which occurred months afterward.

“I was shocked and overwhelmed,” Michelle said, adding that it took her about a week to process the news. “I wasn’t sure how to respond.”

Detectives mentioned that Michelle’s description of her attacker was largely accurate, aside from his race; Jordan was a light-skinned Black man.

The detectives shared that they hoped revealing the identity of her assailant would bring her some closure, despite the fact that Jordan could not be prosecuted posthumously.

“You can’t really achieve closure with situations like this,” she responded.

Michelle later expressed regret for her initial reaction to the detectives. “I felt like I dampened their enthusiasm. While I am grateful and happy that the police persisted in my case, this doesn’t equate to true closure.”

Michelle chose to be open about the DNA findings, using her name and appearing in a video released with the announcement. She hopes that her willingness to share her story will motivate other potential victims to speak out.

Nevertheless, she grapples with lingering questions and a sense of survivor’s guilt.

“Sometimes I wonder: What if he simply hadn’t progressed to murder at that point? Or did he have no intention of killing me? Why was I spared? Was he planning to return and harm me?”

Lohse wishes he could provide answers to Michelle’s inquiries.

“Why didn’t Thomas Jordan kill her?” he pondered. “There’s always a possibility that a criminal evolves over time. They may evade capture or something might push them to escalate their actions. That’s one aspect we will never know. I can’t provide an answer to that for Michelle.”

Lohse commended Michelle for her bravery during the attack in 1987 and for her openness to share her story now.

“She displayed immense courage by escaping and relaying the details to the detectives back then,” he remarked. “Even today, I believe she’s incredibly brave to step forward, encouraging others to share their stories as well.”

Unresolved: The pursuit of a serial rapist. How many more victims are there?

• Part 1: ‘Saved my own life’: Woman shares her story of being raped as a teen, solved 37 years later
• Part 2: Serial rapist and killer: Who was Thomas Collier Jordan?
• Part 3: ‘That’s him!’ Mother sexually assaulted in her home finds closure. Police are looking for other victims
• Part 4: Treating rape like murder: Should the statute of limitations be abolished?