Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Tragedy of two women Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 15:33:28 EST Message-ID: \SE A \HD Tragedy of two women \SH 'Ungodly beating' filled her last hours \BY Brian Reilly and Margaret Rankin \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES A starry-eyed Sherry Ann Sajko left home in Pennsylvania for the District in July, talking about a career in show business. It was the last time her parents ever saw her. Last week, Charles John Sajko and his wife, Sharon, identified their daughter at the D.C. morgue. The badly beaten body of Sherry Sajko, 30, was found Oct. 16 by neighbors putting out the trash in an alley behind the 900 block of Hamilton Street NW. A graduate of modeling and beautician schools, Miss Sajko's body was unrecognizable. Brutal blows to her head had broken her jaw and fractured her skull three times. Blood stained her blond hair a uniform ruddy brown, and her normally delicate features were swollen amid gashes on her face, leading police to believe she was tortured. Mr. Sajko said yesterday his daughter's killer or killers knew exactly how to fulfill her worst fears. "She was so beautiful and she just loved herself, you know," he said. "That would be the worst thing you could do to her - to do something to her face." Police say that, in addition to being tortured, Miss Sajko may have been sexually assaulted in the hours that led up to her death. Puncture wounds on her arms may indicate further torture and other wounds point to a violent struggle with her assailant. "It was an ungodly beating," said Lt. James Boteler of the homicide branch. Miss Sajko's disfigurement caused difficulty for police trying to identify her. Even her own family did not recognize a photo taken of her after the beating, police said, and Mr. Sajko said it took him a while to identify her at the morgue. "I guess I just didn't want to accept it," he said. "But after my wife and my daughter looked, finally I did and it just took a flash for me to see it was her." Since her identification, police have worked with Miss Sajko's friends and acquaintances to try to piece together what events might have led to her death. What they found was a lifestyle full of risk. On the night she disappeared, Miss Sajko worked at her waitress job at Ferdinand's, a Wheaton bar, until about 10:30. After work, as was her habit, she went alone for drinks to the nearby Marquis Lounge, a dark bar on University Boulevard. There she met a biker who had gone deaf from the noise made by his motorcycle, police said. The two eventually left together and went to his Rockville home. Miss Sajko stayed over, but when the biker woke up about 9 a.m. the next morning she was gone. So were his keys, station wagon and some cash. About 10 a.m. the biker called Montgomery County police to report the car stolen. Police speculate Miss Sajko drove into the District in the biker's car to buy drugs. The biker, whom they did not identify, was later questioned by D.C. homicide detectives. What happened when Miss Sajko drove into the District is still a mystery. But Capt. Wyndell Watkins, commander of the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch, says his detectives have received some information that may help them catch her killer. Asked if there are any current suspects in the case, Capt. Watkins said, "Not specifically, but there are some other things that have developed that we're following up on." He asked anyone with information on Miss Sajko or her killers to call the homicide office at 202/727-4347. Mr. Sajko said his daughter's death did not really come as a surprise to him. She had been restless as a teen-ager in Vinco, a small mining town about eight miles outside Johnstown, Pa., and had gotten into trouble there, he said. Mr. Sajko, 52, said he tried repeatedly to counsel his daughter about drugs. "I came from a very large family - eight boys and three girls. All but two were younger than me. They had to put up with me, I just made sure that none of them ever did drugs. I was the same way with my three daughters and stepson," he said. Mr. Sajko and her mother, Frances, 51, buried their daughter at St. Mary's Cemetery near their home Monday, as her relatives and high school friends looked on. Mr. Sajko says he just wishes he knew something that could help homicide detectives find his daughter's killer. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM