Man Indicted for Murder of 94-Year-Old WWII Veteran

CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that a Grand Jury has returned an indictment charging Michael Dudas, 41, for murdering a 94-year-old man inside his Cleveland residence.

“This was a brutal murder by an individual who has no regard for human life,” said Prosecutor O’Malley. “This senseless killing – of a man who served our nation during a time when we needed him most – is truly tragic.”

On April 15, 2020, Cleveland Division of Police (CPD) and EMS responded to the victim’s residence on Plymouth Rd. in the city’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood to conduct a welfare check.  Upon entering, the victim was found unresponsive, and pronounced deceased shortly thereafter.  The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office (CCMEO) responded and processed the scene.  The CCMEO ruled the cause of death as a homicide the following day.

CPD’s Homicide Unit opened an investigation that linked Dudas to the crime.  On April 18, he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force near Pearl Rd. and Henniger Road.  He remains in custody at the Cuyahoga County Jail on $2,000,000 bond.

Dudas has been indicted on the following charges:

• Two counts of Aggravated Murder
• One count of Murder
• One count of Aggravated Robbery
• One count of Aggravated Burglary
• One count of Kidnapping
• One count of Felonious Assault
• Four counts of Misuse of credit cards

He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, April 30 at 8:30 a.m. at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center.