A HISTORY OF HOMICIDE: EVEN IF THEY'RE THE SITE OF A VIOLENT CRIME, HOUSES CAN STILL SELL

The house where Mary and Brenda Parsh were killed hasn't changed much since 1977.

"It might have been painted three or four times," but that's all, said Muriel Kelley, who has lived across the street from the Parsh's old house for about 50 years.

The unsolved killings of the mother and daughter at 612 Koch St. changed the way residents on the block lived for years, and from time to time it still sparks conversations.

"I think about it sometimes," said Joseph Crader, who has lived on Koch St. since 1967. "It would have had to have been someone skinny to squeeze in one of those windows."

The house is among several around Cape Girardeau with a history of homicide. Some have turned into rental property, others have seen owners move in and out, but they are all still occupied.

During his 31 years as a real estate agent, Tom Meyer said he has never seen a residential crime so bad that a house could not be sold.

"If an instance was fresher in people's memories, it might delay a sale or create an opportunity for a discount," Meyer said. "Some people would be bothered if they knew a murder occurred in a house, and some wouldn't."

When Meyer sold the former Mother Earth Plant Store at 605 Broadway in the early 1980s, he said the buyers were well aware of its history. In 1979, the body of 24-year-old Deborah Martin was discovered. Police still do not know if Martin was pushed or accidentally fell from a second-story balcony.

The current owner of the property, Steve Robertson, declined to comment.

Ghost on William Street?

Douglas Parson takes a different view toward living at 1218 William St. He and James Merritt have lived there with their daughters for six years, and he believes former resident Mildred Wallace still visits them. Parson said he believes Wallace, who was killed in the house by an unknown intruder in 1982, is restless because her death is unsolved.

"Sometimes we'll hear noises in the basement like someone is moving things around, and we go down to check and see things have been moved," Parson said.

Nevertheless, Parson is not bothered by the house's history or the noises.

His lack of concern is shared by most who live in houses where killings have occurred in the area over the past 20 years.

When Leslie Welker bought her home at 1829 Brink St. four years ago, she said she was well aware that Margie Call was strangled to death in the house in 1982. Welker grew up only a few houses away on Brink Street, where her mother still lives.

"I remember the murder, because that was when Dad got a gun," Welker said.

Welker never sought a discount on the house because of the death, she said. For her, the most important factor was to live closer to her mother.

Been through enough'

College students Chad Berendzen and D.J. York didn't know that a family had been murdered in the house they rent at 31 N. Henderson St. until after moving in.

"The lady who lives next door told us," said York, recalling the 1993 murders. "She's a very religious lady, and when she started talking about it, she started crying."

The students said they hold nothing against the house's owner, Ron Scheper, for not telling them that his former wife and two sons were killed in the house.

"Why should he have to bring it up?" York said. "He has been through enough."

Some of the six renters in the house have discussed the murders. When the television show "Arrest and Trial" presented a docu-drama of the events last fall about the time Gary Roll was executed for the deaths, York said they videotaped the show.

"The house they showed didn't resemble this one," Berendzen said.

William Lindley has not sold the house where his grandson murdered his wife last year, although some offers have been made, said neighbor Jim Wills. Seventeen-year-old Joshua Wolf was found guilty of killing his grandmother by a jury last month.

Although Lindley couldn't go into the courtroom to hear the jury's guilty verdict, Wills said Lindley plans to move into the house at 175 Paiute Lane sometime this summer. Remodeling of the fire-damaged interior was completed last week, Wills said.

Some might not understand how Lindley could move from Columbus, Ohio, to live in the house where his wife died, but Wills said neighbors will support him.

Lessen with age

As houses age, tragic events that occurred in them take on a less harsh tone, real estate agent Meyer said.

"Some of these houses around here that are 100-plus years old have these histories, and they're not looked on as a detriment, but a plus," he said.

The house at 444 Washington St. has a varied history, Meyer said. It was a smallpox hospital during the Civil War, but before that a academy for women.

"If the histories that followed after a house were a problem, this would show you," he said. "Otherwise, who would want to live in a place that had been a smallpox hospital?"