By Steve Huff
On August 19, 1982, David J. Steffen murdered Karen Range, of Roselawn, Ohio. Steffen came to her door under the pretense of selling cleaning products. He forced his way in, intent on assaulting the 19-year-old woman.The ensuing crime was so gruesome that some jurors from Steffen's murder trial would later tell of knots in the stomach, of nausea and queasiness. Others described feeling faint, shaky or nervous. After all, jurors were subjected to images of Karen Range's beaten and bloodied body, her slashed throat. They ended up handling her bloodstained clothing.The jury found Steffen guilty of aggravated murder and rape. They gave him the death penalty.David Steffen seems to have been a peculiarly honest killer. He has admitted that he beat and stabbed Karen Range. Steffen admitted that he tried to rape her.But he always insisted that he never actually raped the victim. The semen found inside Range's body in 1982 wasn't his.Turns out he was telling the truth.As her still blood-stained body lay in the morgue in 1982, Karen Range was violated by another type of predator all together.It took nearly 26 years for the DNA to match, but on Monday, an Ohio grand jury indicted Kenneth Douglas, charging him with 'gross abuse of a corpse.' Authorities believe that Douglas, who was at the time a morgue attendant, raped Range's corpse in the morgue cooler about 4 hours after the woman's remains were brought in from the crime scene.Douglas had already been at the morgue for 6 years when he allegedly abused the corpse of Karen Range. He stayed in the job for another 10. Hamilton County, OH prosecutors believe Douglas may have been a rather active necrophile. More charges may follow, pending a coroner's review.David Steffen may see his rape conviction thrown out, but under Ohio statutes he remains eligible for the death penalty.