Robert Gene Rembert Jr.: Cleveland Serial Killer
Background
Robert Gene Rembert Jr. is an American serial killer whose known crimes occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, between May 1997 and September 2015. Born on March 15, 1970, Rembert worked as a public-transit bus driver during the 1990s and later became a long-distance truck driver. His occupations gave him familiarity with transportation facilities, isolated areas and highways extending beyond northeastern Ohio.
Rembert was ultimately held responsible for the deaths of five people. His victims included two women who were sexually assaulted and strangled, a man fatally shot during a confrontation, and two people shot inside a Cleveland residence. The murders were separated by long periods of time, including an interval of more than 17 years between his earliest known crimes and the killings that led to his final arrest.
The Murder of Rena Mae Payne
Rena Mae Payne, 47, was killed on May 15, 1997, while Rembert was employed as a driver for Cleveland’s public-transit system. Payne was attacked inside an employee restroom at a Regional Transit Authority facility in Cleveland. She was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled. Her body was discovered by a transit employee.
The location of the crime caused investigators to examine transit workers and other people who had access to the restricted area. Despite working at the facility, Rembert was not identified as Payne’s killer at the time. The case remained unsolved for approximately 18 years. Investigators eventually connected him to Payne through DNA evidence after his arrest in 2015.
The Killing of Dadren Lewis
On December 23, 1997, Rembert became involved in a confrontation with 24-year-old Dadren Lewis in a Cleveland parking lot. During the altercation, Lewis was shot and killed. Rembert was prosecuted for the shooting, but the case did not result in a murder conviction. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison.
Rembert served the sentence and was released in 2004. At that time, authorities had not connected him to Payne’s earlier murder. After returning to the Cleveland area, he eventually found employment as a truck driver. He spent years traveling for work while Payne’s homicide remained unresolved.
The Murder of Kimberly D. Hall
On June 10, 2015, Rembert killed 31-year-old Kimberly D. Hall in Cleveland. Hall was strangled and sexually assaulted. Her body was abandoned near an open field on Cleveland’s east side, in the area of East 83rd Street between Higbee and Gill avenues. Passing workers discovered her body the following morning.
Evidence collected during the investigation provided detectives with a DNA profile. The scientific evidence eventually linked Hall’s killing to Rembert. Once he became a suspect, investigators compared his DNA with evidence preserved from Payne’s 1997 murder and found that he was also connected to that long-unsolved case.
The Murders of Jerry Rembert and Morgan Nietzel
By September 2015, Rembert was staying at a Cleveland residence with his cousin, 52-year-old Jerry Rembert. Morgan Nietzel, a 26-year-old woman acquainted with the men, was also at the home. On September 20, 2015, Robert Rembert became involved in a dispute with his cousin and fatally shot both Jerry Rembert and Morgan Nietzel in the head.
After the shootings, Rembert took property from the residence and left in Nietzel’s sport utility vehicle. The discovery of the victims and the missing vehicle quickly focused police attention on him. Authorities located Rembert the next day at a truck stop in Medina County, southwest of Cleveland. Nietzel’s vehicle was found at the truck stop, and Rembert was taken into custody.
Known Victims
- Rena Mae Payne, 47 — Killed on May 15, 1997, inside an employee restroom at a Regional Transit Authority facility in Cleveland, Ohio. She was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.
- Dadren Lewis, 24 — Shot and killed on December 23, 1997, during an altercation in a Cleveland parking lot. Rembert was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and served six years in prison.
- Kimberly D. Hall, 31 — Killed on June 10, 2015, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was sexually assaulted and strangled, and her body was left near an open field on the city’s east side.
- Jerry Rembert, 52 — Shot and killed on September 20, 2015, inside a residence in Cleveland, Ohio. He was Robert Rembert’s cousin and had been providing him with a place to stay.
- Morgan Nietzel, 26 — Shot and killed on September 20, 2015, at the same Cleveland residence as Jerry Rembert. Rembert fled in her vehicle after the killings.
DNA Evidence and the Expansion of the Investigation
Rembert’s arrest following the September 2015 double homicide gave detectives an opportunity to examine his possible involvement in other crimes. DNA testing connected him to Kimberly Hall’s murder and then to evidence preserved from Rena Mae Payne’s 1997 homicide. The results revealed that the man convicted of killing Dadren Lewis in late 1997 had already committed another killing several months earlier.
Prosecutors described Rembert as a serial killer and obtained an indictment charging him with numerous offenses connected to the four additional victims. The original indictment included allegations of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated robbery, burglary and evidence tampering. Investigators also reviewed his movements and employment history because he had traveled between cities as a truck driver.
Possible Additional Victims
Authorities examined whether Rembert could have committed additional killings in Ohio, Pennsylvania or other locations reached through his trucking work. Investigators were particularly interested in unsolved cases involving women who had been sexually assaulted, strangled or abandoned near transportation corridors. His ability to travel widely and the long gaps between his confirmed murders raised concerns that his known crimes might not represent the full extent of his violence.
No additional murders have resulted in convictions against Rembert. Although law-enforcement officials investigated possible connections to other cases, the five victims listed above remain his confirmed victims. Claims that he killed additional people should therefore be treated as suspicion rather than established fact.
Guilty Pleas and Sentencing
Rembert’s case was delayed for several years as prosecutors prepared to bring the four later murder cases to trial. On October 15, 2018, the first scheduled day of his trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, he entered guilty pleas. He admitted responsibility for the deaths of Payne, Hall, Jerry Rembert and Nietzel.
Rembert pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of voluntary manslaughter. The pleas avoided a lengthy trial in which prosecutors were prepared to present DNA evidence, crime-scene findings and evidence associated with the stolen vehicle. The following day, October 16, 2018, Judge Joan Synenberg sentenced him to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
During the sentencing hearing, relatives of the victims described the lasting damage caused by the killings. Family members spoke about the loss of parents, children and loved ones, while some expressed anger that Rembert might eventually receive a parole hearing. Rembert made a brief statement apologizing and asking the families to forgive him and pray for him.
Imprisonment and Legacy
Rembert was admitted to the Ohio prison system in October 2018. His aggregate sentence includes a life term, and his first parole consideration is not expected until decades after his conviction. He remains incarcerated under the supervision of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
The case demonstrated the importance of preserving biological evidence from unsolved homicides. DNA testing allowed investigators to connect crimes committed 18 years apart and identify the killer of Rena Mae Payne long after the original investigation had stalled. It also revealed how Rembert returned to the community after serving a comparatively short sentence for Dadren Lewis’s death and later committed additional murders.
Robert Gene Rembert Jr.’s confirmed record stretches from a restricted restroom at a Cleveland transit facility in May 1997 to a double shooting inside a Cleveland home in September 2015. His crimes claimed five lives, left several families grieving and forced investigators to consider whether his years of travel concealed further violence that has never been conclusively attributed to him.
