A 22-year-old man is facing prison for “one of the most horrific murders” that an Ohio judge has ever seen, with prosecutors alleging that he strangled his 46-year-old girlfriend and then “made a bed” for her to rot in — located inside the woman’s own garage, where the body sat for weeks — while forcing her 10-year-old son to assist him.
“He should never have to hug his dead mother, put her in the car with her murderer,” said the family of victim Susan Ramberg during her boyfriend Kandawaswika Kahari’s sentencing on Friday, according to local ABC affiliate WSYX.
“He should never have to play dead while laying in his own blood so his mother’s murderer will stop kicking him,” the family said, noting how Ramberg’s son lived “in fear” with Kahari and was abused by him for roughly three weeks after her death while she was left in the “bed” to decompose.
“He should never have been left alone in a house for three weeks where he knows his mother’s body is in the garage,” according to the relatives. “He should never have to live in fear, wondering if and when he would be fed by a man who tried to kill him.”
Kahari was sentenced to 39 years to life in prison for the death of Reynoldsburg’s mother in February 2023. He pleaded guilty in December to aggravated murder, felonious assault, and gross abuse of a corpse.
“One of the most horrific murders that I’ve encountered while on the bench,” the judge said, according to WSYX.
Kahari was accused of making the “bed” for Ramberg after strangling her, with police alleging that he left her son alone at her home for extended periods of time while checking on him and her body, as well as feeding the boy.
Kahari and Ramberg had an argument inside the garage before he killed her; police say he punched and choked Ramberg to death. Kahari also assaulted the woman’s son with a shovel before forcing him to help make a “bed” for her body in her car trunk.
Ramberg’s online obituary describes her as a “devoted mother” who was “kind, caring, empathetic,” and “fiercely loyal.” She was said to have “loved her family and friends more than anything.”
Kahari will be eligible for parole after serving the first 39 years of his sentence.
