Who killed Tommy Aspery? 25 years later his parents are still searching for his killer

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - This month marks 25 years since Tommy Aspery died after suffering blunt trauma to the head and falling into a coma for eight months.

Cleveland Police said the attack, which happened in August 1997, happened near 97th and Denison on the city’s Westside.

His parents, Rosemary and Don Aspery, do not want their son to be forgotten.

They have hope that one day his killer will be found.

“I make sure the ones that are here they never forget about him either,” Rosemary Aspery said. “We have pictures of him up on the wall and we just never forget.”

At the time of the attack, Tommy was 27 years old and looking forward to going to a country concert.

“He had just gotten paid had a little money and he was excited about all of it,” Rosemary Aspery said.

Those concert seats stayed empty that weekend.

Investigators said Tommy was attacked, stumbled home, and went to bed.

He never woke up again.

The police report also noted that the concert tickets and cash in his wallet were gone.

Hoping to get answers, the Aspery’s went to the house he was living at with his girlfriend.

They said the night of the assault, Tommy and his girlfriend got into an argument.

“He says I’m going to go out tonight with one of his friends and she didn’t like that,” Don Aspery said.

What his father saw inside the home made him question what really happened.

“I seen on the door knob there was blood in the inside. I told the detective what about this blood on the inside?” Don Aspery said. “The detective tells me he says he probably came home holding his head like that and went to close the door and the blood got on the doorknob. I thought that was ridiculous.”

With leads going cold, the Aspery’s worry their son will not get justice.

They hope someone will come forward to bring closure to this senseless killing.

“I believe I know who did it and what happened but I can’t prove it,” Don Aspery said. “I blame the police for the reason why I can’t prove it because there’s no evidence and they let it all go away.”

Cleveland Police are still investigating Tommy’s case.

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