Perhaps the most troubling crime of all is the unsolved homicide. It is unsettling that the perpetrators have been left unpunished and that closure cannot be given to those most deserving of it, the victims` families.Stephanie Hummer, Charles Ballard, Kyle Schaulin and Kohler Barker were all Ohio State students murdered in the university district and their killers have not been brought to justice. While homicide detectives at the Columbus Division of Police continue to investigate, there are also many questions left unanswered regarding the whereabouts of OSU graduate Stacy Beth Colbert, who disappeared two years ago without a trace.Detective Amy Morris, who investigated Colbert`s disappearance, said the case cannot be considered a homicide unless a body is found.”She’s still classified as a missing person,” Morris said. “But we’re just about positive she’s dead.”Confirmed murders can be just as disturbing. Detective Pat Barr, who has worked on several of these cases, said of Hummer`s death, “I can’t let go.” On the night of March 5, 1994, Hummer, an OSU freshman, went for a walk with a group of friends, some of whom were visiting from Cincinnati, Barr said. They had left the Evans Scholar House, 52 E. 14th Ave., to go to a friend’s house on East 10th Avenue. One of Hummer’s friends cut her hand on a chain link fence on the way, so Hummer walked the woman back to the Scholar House. She then went down Pearl Alley to catch up with the rest of the group. She never made it.”Stephanie was found murdered the next day, partially clad, in a field off River Street on the west side,” Barr said. Hummer had been raped and bludgeoned to death. Over 75 people were interviewed and eventually eliminated as suspects. Concerning Schaulin`s murder, Morris said that he had “got to dealing with the wrong people.” Schaulin, an OSU sophomore who had been selling marijuana, according to Morris, was at his home on 11th Avenue on March 18, 1997 with his three roommates when three men walked in around 11 a.m. “One of the roommates saw the men when they entered the apartment and a gun was held on him while Schaulin was shot to death,” Morris said.Despite the eyewitness during the murder and several other people who saw the suspects walking away from the murder scene, the men have not been identified. Ballard, a senior engineering major, was also shot to death on Feb. 9 of this year. He was found dead in the basement of 328 E. 17th Avenue, said Detective Dana Farbacher. In a Feb. 21 Lantern article, Farbacher said that Ballard’s body was partially burned and laying on top of a gun that may not have been used in the homicide. It may have been Ballard’s own personal weapon, he said. The most recent homicide happened last month. According to a June 19 article published in the Lantern, Barker, 25, who planned to major in math and computer science, bled to death after being cut in the upper region of his body. A 911 call had been placed to Columbus police at 10:12 a.m. on June 3 by a neighbor who was concerned about noise coming from Barker`s Harrison House apartment. When police received no answer after knocking on Barker`s door and heard no further sounds, they left shortly after 10:34 a.m. Barker`s body was found June 7. Colbert disappeared on March 21, 1998, but she was not reported missing until three days later. People at her job had assumed she was sick until a co-worker who lived at Colbert`s apartment complex got suspicious and called Colbert`s sister. When her sister arrived, she saw that Colbert`s car, ID, money and credit cards were all still there. She then notified police. Morris said that Colbert`s case file is large considering they do not have a suspect. Most of the paperwork consists of the many interviews that were conducted of everyone she knew, including people she used to go to school with. Barr said that it was ironic that Colbert, like Hummer, had lived at the Evans Scholar House. “Some of the same names that came up during the Stacy Beth Colbert case were the same ones that came up during Stephanie Hummer’s investigation,” Barr said.However, after a thorough investigation, everyone who shared ties to both Hummer and Colbert were eliminated as suspects. “There’s always hope of solving this case,” Morris said. “But with no new leads, it won’t be anytime soon.”Because all of the cases are still open, none of the detectives were able to fully elaborate on what they have learned in the course of their investigations, but they did say that there has not been any new information regarding suspects in the four homicides. Hummer’s case has been especially trying for Barr. “It’s very disheartening to put your heart and soul into a case and not solve it,” Barr said. Barr said that the investigation was made more challenging because of two events going on in Columbus the weekend Hummer was murdered; the ArnoldSchwarzenegger Classic and a Civil War reenactment at the fairgrounds, which brought a lot of visitors to the city. He thinks that Hummer’s killer was passing through town. “I believe whoever is responsible for Stephanie’s death has done something similar before, he didn’t all of a sudden get that good. And if he hadn’t done it before, he’s done it since,” Barr said.Two prisoners have confessed to Hummer’s murder over the years, Barr stated. However, the men were not able to provide information that is known only to the detectives and the actual perpetrator of the crime. DNA evidence found on the body also eliminated the men. Barr said that these men gave false confessions because they “have 24 hours a day to figure out ways to screw with people.”Barr does feel encouraged by a new national DNA database that Columbus police will soon be on-line with. It will give detectives a chance to compare DNA and blood work with other cases across the country. “This new database will lead to closure for a lot of unsolved homicides,” Barr said.