COLUMBUS — Douglas Krumlauf pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Krumlauf, 63, of Mount Vernon, had been indicted in April 2018 of one count of aggravated murder and murder with gun specifications in the Jan. 30, 1985, death of Sharla R. Spangler, 24.
Wednesday he was sentenced to eight years in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter. The victim’s sister, Carla Hamilton, agreed to support the deal in exchange for an explanation of why her sister was shot twice in the head and her body dumped in a northeast side parking lot in 1985, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Judge Gina Russo approved the eight-year sentence — five years for involuntary manslaughter and three years for a gun specification — recommended by the prosecution and defense. The maximum sentence for the offenses is 14 years.
Krumlauf’s attorney, Sam Shamansky, explained in court how Krumlauf fatally shot Spangler after meeting her at a go-go bar on Jan. 30, 1985.
Spangler disappeared at the end of her shift as a dancer at the Gold Fox Lounge on West Johnstown Road in Gahanna. Krumlauf met her there that night, and the two agreed to leave together.
“Unfortunately, as they drove off, an argument ensued,” Shamansky said, directing his comments to Hamilton. “Mr. Krumlauf’s wallet was grabbed, and as she was getting out of the car, and through absolutely no fault of her own, and with no justification, and with no reason under the sun, Mr. Krumlauf took your sister’s life.”
Spangler’s body was discovered the next day beneath a parked tractor-trailer in a Hamilton Road parking lot.
Fingerprints were recovered from the trailer and a roll of tape, according to the prosecuting attorney’s office. There was no match until Krumlauf’s fingerprints were collected after a domestic violence arrest in 2015. After they were entered into the computer database, they were a match to those found in 1985. Investigators then re-tested DNA found on Spangler’s body and made a further link to Krumlauf.
Krumlauf was the owner of Tileman, Inc., in Mount Vernon.
