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Ohio
Jun 20, 2004 10:29:55 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jun 20, 2004 10:29:55 GMT -5
Authorities have identified a woman whose body was found in the trunk of an abandoned car at a gravel pit in Anderson Township.
Hamilton County sheriff's officials say deputies were called to a gravel pit at about 11 a.m. Wednesday to investigate a report of an abandoned vehicle.
A sheriff's deputy found a white convertible off the side of a road at the gravel pit. The body of Gail Sims, 46, of Union Township in Clermont County, was in the trunk of the car, according to a sheriff's office statement released Wednesday.
The Hamilton County coroner's office was to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of Sims' death.
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Ohio
Jul 20, 2004 11:05:34 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jul 20, 2004 11:05:34 GMT -5
A naked body found last weekend along a rural road in southern Ohio has been identified as that of a Portsmouth woman, Adams County sheriff's officers said Monday.
Investigators said they have not been able to determine the cause of death for Melinda M. Powell, 42, but are investigating it as a homicide. A passer-by saw her body Saturday in woods off a road near Peebles, about 60 miles east of Cincinnati, sheriff's officers said.
It is not known whether she died where her body was found, investigators said.
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Ohio
Aug 27, 2004 22:12:47 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Aug 27, 2004 22:12:47 GMT -5
Some people have skeletons in their closets, but David Brancheau has nine years of birthday gifts in his. It was a tense courtroom with a father seated here, a mother seated there and an innocent child stuck in the middle. Vanesa Lyn Brancheau was only 4-years-old when she disappeared with her mom in 1995. Brancheau never gave up hope, saying, "Every year I would stick a gift, for her birthday and Christmas in the closet, and I would close the closet. And that would help me deal with the day to day." Investigators say for nine years, mother and child lived under assumed names in Missouri, Florida and Ohio. The game of hide and seek was up on July 9, when a woman who knew Vanesa found the girl's picture on a website for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and called the police. Prosecutors must now decide whether Sherri Lyn Taylor, who had joint custody of her daughter, committed a crime when she took off with the child. Taylor declined to speak with 10TV. As for Vanesa, she's now 13-years-old and has already met her dad twice. She also has three closets full of presents. Brancheau says, "And she knows about it. And she's really excited because she's got lots of gifts." The Brancheau family left the courthouse with more questions than answers, but the legal journey will take them to a place they waited nine years to find and grandparents who will meet with their long lost granddaughter for the first time in her memory. The whole family hopes to come together again on October 21, the day Vanesa turns 14. This time, Brancheau says he will give his daughter her birthday present in person. www.10tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2121690
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Ohio
Sept 2, 2004 4:14:58 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Sept 2, 2004 4:14:58 GMT -5
A bloody motel room began a mystery half of which Springdale police have solved so far. A 24-year old Tri-state woman reported missing has turned up, but there's still more police want to know. A cleaning crew found a bloody mess inside the Howard Johnson motel room where Krista Ferreira stayed Monday night. She had been seen arguing with a man in the motel's parking lot and police feared for her safety. Krista's grandfather saw her picture on 9News Tuesday night and called Krista's father, who reached her on her cell phone. When asked if her family was relieved, Krista's father Richard Ferreira, replied, "Yes, very good relief -- we were, ah, very scared." Krista told police that the blood had come from her boyfriend, Todd Carney. In a drunken rage, police say, Carney smashed up the motel room and injured himself in the process. Now police want to know where her boyfriend is. Carney has a warrant out for his arrest in Brown County for failing to pay child support. www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/08/31/missing_folo.html
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Ohio
Sept 7, 2004 22:41:05 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Sept 7, 2004 22:41:05 GMT -5
Lima police are waiting for autopsy results on the body of a Defiance woman found in the trunk of her car.
Police say they don't know when Diane Acton died or how long she had been dead.
The Defiance woman's car had been found in Lima last Thursday.
Police put the vehicle in an impound lot and then discovered the body two days later when Defiance police contacted them about the missing woman.
Major Larry Winegardner says the car had been blocking an alley and that police had no reason to suspect anything other than it had been abandoned.
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Ohio
Oct 11, 2004 10:09:58 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Oct 11, 2004 10:09:58 GMT -5
27-year-old Findlay man who had been missing since October first was found Saturday dead in a van parked in a truck stop along U-S route 40 near the Ohio-Indiana line. The Preble County sheriff says the body of Joshua Chidester was found by a maintenance worker at the truck stop. Initial reports indicate that the van may have been on the lot for several days, and that Chidester had been dead for some time. The Montgomery County coroner's office will perform an autopsy. Preble County Coroner John Vosler refused to speculate yesterday whether foul play is suspected. Chidester was last seen at about 9 pm October first, when he left the home of a friend he had gone to visit in Dayton.
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Ohio
Nov 3, 2004 17:53:03 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 3, 2004 17:53:03 GMT -5
The body of a woman missing for more than two years was unearthed Monday night in a small wooded ravine running alongside a creek near South Stewart Road.
Linda Marie Singleton was 35 years old when last seen Jan. 10, 2002, while living at Hilltop Apartments, 1095 Koogle Road No. 136.
Acting on a tip, the Richland County Sheriff's Department used cadaver dogs and a backhoe to find her remains in a shallow grave behind 165 South Stewart Road -- 5.5 miles from her former apartment.
"At least I know -- me and the kids know anyway," said Singleton's husband, Allen. The couple, who were separated, have an 18-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.
"I think they should get on with the investigation," Singleton said. "(Detectives) said that could take a little time. I think they've had a lot of time."
Capt. Larry Faith, a sheriff's detective, revealed little about the investigation Tuesday. He said authorities found the body beneath a mound of dirt and her identity was confirmed through dental records.
He said detectives have talked to the Richland County Prosecutor's Office and deemed the death a homicide after an autopsy at the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office.
Faith said they know how Singleton died, but would not say. He would not say how she was dressed or if there was a suspect. He said they had not made any arrests and did not anticipate doing so Tuesday.
He said the tipster would not receive the $5,000 reward previously offered in the case, and he would not divulge details about the timing or nature of the tip.
He noted Singleton disappeared in January when the ground was likely frozen but said he did not know how long she had been buried where she was found.
Agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and members of the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office helped local authorities work the area Monday night.
A large white tent was strung through the trees around a burial site surrounded by yellow crime-scene tape. Authorities were back Tuesday morning, working in the rain, sifting through the dirt and debris for clues.
The investigation of Singleton's disappearance was frustrated by a six-month delay in reporting her missing. Estranged from her husband at the time, Singleton had no money, no car and left all her belongings behind in her apartment.
But by the time detectives got involved, her apartment had been vacated and the case was cold.
Allen Singleton has cooperated with police and passed a lie-detector test about his wife's disappearance.
"It's just spooky," Allen Singleton said. "I just thank God they found something. Now, maybe we can get something done.
"It gives us something to start on; it all gets better from here," he said. "We'll have some place to go see her."
The property is owned by a Rock Road resident.
Authorities previously said they thought Singleton was buried on property the man owned that had been filled in with construction debris and fill dirt on Rock Road.
Instead, they found her at a Stewart Road property the man rents after building the small brick house on the 10-acre property for his parents, who have since died.
Faith remained mum on the connection, only saying the man has been cooperative throughout the investigation and is not a suspect.
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Ohio
Nov 18, 2004 10:08:08 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 18, 2004 10:08:08 GMT -5
The Montgomery County coroner's office is conducting an autopsy on a woman's body that was found in a field on Tuesday.
Investigators identified the woman as Kimberly Adams, who had been missing since Nov. 1. She was identified by tattoos and scars on the body.
Miami Valley county has a connection to the case. Investigators said a resident who lives in Miami County on Route 201 found Adams' Arizona driver's license and an Arizona prison ID bracelet in a ditch a couple of weeks ago.
On Tuesday, an SBC worker was walking in a wooded area along Gettysburg Avenue looking for a telephone line and discovered Adams' body. Officers said the worker then flagged down a passing officer.
Investigators believe Adams' body had been in the wooded area for several days. They also said there was no evidence at the scene of a struggle or a cause of death.
Dayton police said at this time their investigation has come to a halt, pending the results of the evidence that was found in Miami County.
Investigators said Adams' just moved to Ohio from Arizona a couple of weeks ago, but they are not saying whether the evidence found is directly linked to her death.
If you have any information on Adams' death, please contact Dayton police at 333-COPS.
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Ohio
Nov 29, 2004 4:11:11 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 29, 2004 4:11:11 GMT -5
A Lorain girl who mysteriously disappeared from her home in October walked into the Lorain police station yesterday afternoon and turned herself in with no explanation of where she had been or what she had been doing, police said.
Krystal Nicole Alicea, 16, was reported missing to police by her mother on Oct. 24, according to a report. Robin Witten told police the last time she saw her daughter was at around 2 a.m. on Oct. 24 when she looked into her daughter's room at their home in the 2700 block of Reid Avenue and saw her asleep in her bed. Later that morning Witten realized her daughter had left and went to police.Alicea, who attends Clearview High, reappeared yesterday afternoon when she turned herself into police, said Lt. James Rohner, head of the department's detective bureau.
''She won't say why she ran away, she won't say where she has been,'' Rohner said.
''She just came to the police department and turned herself in we suspect because of the pressure we were putting on her friends.''
Alicea appeared to be in good health when she turned her self in, said Rohner.
Police received tips of the girls whereabouts during the time she was missing but none ever panned out, Rohner said at one point during the investigation.
Alicea was not returned to her mother yesterday, Rohner said, but instead was sent to the Turning Point shelter in Elyria. Rohner said Alicea will appear for a hearing in juvenile court, where she could be charged with unruliness.
Witten told police she argued with her daughter the night prior to Alicea's disappearance after Witten learned Alicea cut a college class she was attending at Lorain County Community College, according to the report.
Alicea's family was happy to learn she turned herself into police, said Barbara Witten, Alicea's grandmother.
Barbara Witten said her daughter did not get to see Alicea but did talk to her briefly on the phone.
''They didn't have a long conversation,'' said Barbara Witten.''My daughter is glad she's all right.
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Ohio
Dec 2, 2004 2:10:01 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 2, 2004 2:10:01 GMT -5
-- Authorities said Wednesday that they identified a skeleton found in northern Delaware County as that of Stacey Beth Colbert, a Columbus woman who was last seen six years ago. Colbert, an Ohio State graduate, was 23 years old when she was last seen inside her northwest Columbus apartment on March 21, 1998. A hunter found the skeleton on Saturday near Radnor, Ohio, while he was searching for a missing dog. A forensic dentist from Ohio State University and an anthropologist from Ohio University examined the skeleton Wednesday and determined by dental records that the bones were those of Colbert. The death is considered to be a homicide, according to Delaware County Sheriff Al Myers. A cause of death has not been determined. "The examination is undoubted because they went through the examination of dental records by every root and every tooth we recovered, which was a full set," Myers said. "So we have no doubt in our minds that Stacey's remains are the ones we recovered." An initial examination of the skeleton showed an injury to the left ankle, and Myers said the family confirmed that Colbert did injure her left ankle while playing sports. Myers said investigators did not know how long the body had been in the woods. All we know for sure is that it had been longer than two years that she had been in the location," Myers said. "An interview we did today showed that people had been working in that location about five years ago, that was the only time they had been in that area, so it's a wide spectrum of time right now." Myers said that the people interviewed were taking brush out of the field near where the remains were found. Colbert's family was notified of the positive identification Wednesday afternoon. "When I got (the notification), I was sad because it's another chapter, and my sister and I were only two years apart," said Colbert's sister, Danielle Nusbaum. "We were together all the time. I was sad, but I'm glad to (not have to) worry if she's dead or alive." On Monday, Myers said nothing was found at the scene to suggest the death was a suicide or a hunting accident. www.nbc4i.com/news/3962735/detail.html
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Ohio
Dec 7, 2004 19:33:55 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 7, 2004 19:33:55 GMT -5
Investigators said Tuesday that 21 tips have been called in the last week after it was revealed a missing Columbus woman's body was found. Stacey Colbert was last seen in 1998 in her northwest Columbus apartment. Her remains were found in a Delaware County cornfield on Nov. 27. Police said some tips they received could contain credible information. Columbus police said that would hand over copies of Colbert's missing person case to Delaware County detectives. Anyone with information is asked to call (740) 833-2895. www.nbc4i.com/news/3979075/detail.html
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Ohio
Dec 20, 2004 17:02:45 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 20, 2004 17:02:45 GMT -5
Police in Beavercreek said a missing Wright State University student has been found in Michigan.
Over the weekend, officers discovered Jie Yang, 35, was being treated at a hospital in Detroit. Police said she has a medical condition.
Investigators said she disappeared Dec. 1 after telling her employer she was not coming back to work. They said she did not tell her friends where she was going.
Yang is a Chinese national and has attended WSU since 1994.
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Ohio
Jan 2, 2005 7:18:42 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jan 2, 2005 7:18:42 GMT -5
Thank God one is safe
Florence police have ended a search for a 14-year-old teenager after she returned home safely.
But now Ellin Ortwein has to answer to a lot of questions.
Police say she text-messaged her grandmother late Saturday afternoon that she was being abducted and was riding in a van heading northbound on I-75.
At one point she said that she was in Dayton, but that message came from a local cell tower.
A taxi driver also identified the girl and said that she sent text messages the whole way to Fountain Square. He picked up his fare in Northern Kentucky.
Police have not said whether the teenager will face any charges.
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Ohio
Jan 4, 2005 6:48:57 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jan 4, 2005 6:48:57 GMT -5
THIS IS A WAKEUP CALL TO POLICE AGENCIES EVERYWHERE: CHILDREN THAT RUN AWAY GET MURDERED!
A woman found dead of multiple stabs wounds and stuffed into a black plastic bag in the Rocky River Reservation was identified Monday as Stephanie Leigh Yates, 35, of Cleveland, authorities said.
Yates had been reported missing by her brother Dec. 31, and her mother had not seen her since Dec. 17, said Kathy Bernetich, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Metroparks Rangers.
A man walking near a path off Shepherd Lane in North Olmsted found Yates' body Saturday morning. She had stab wounds on her torso and arms.
Investigators believe Yates was killed somewhere else and dumped at the park.
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Ohio
Feb 11, 2005 8:52:53 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Feb 11, 2005 8:52:53 GMT -5
The body of an Ohio woman who had been missing for a week was discovered Wednesday afternoon in western Union County.
Union County deputies identified the body as Julie A. Homick, 20, of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. Homick was reported missing Feb. 2 to police in Middleburg Heights, which is in the Cleveland area.
Homick's 2004 Honda Civic was found Feb. 3 in Fayette County and an investigation was launched last week by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the woman's whereabouts, according to a press release from the Connersville State Police Post.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Ed Davis said it doesn't appear Homick had any connections to this area. She was a college student at a Cleveland-area school, he said.
Homick's body was found about a mile north of Indiana 44 West, just off Brownsville Road. The body of a white female was spotted by a driver on the road who called the Union County Sheriff's Department about 4 p.m. Wednesday, State Police Cpl. Jim Carney said.
Officers don't know why the body wasn't seen sooner because it was visible from the roadway, Carney said.
Wendy Osborne, special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Indianapolis office, said Wednesday night the FBI investigation originated in the Cleveland FBI office. An agent from the Muncie FBI office has been assigned an assisting role to the ongoing investigation, and the agent has worked on the case for the past three days, Osborne said.
Homick's Honda was found on a rural Fayette County, but Davis said he couldn't release where the car was found.
The car was found a week ago, but no public announcements of Homick's disappearance had been made because officers still were following several leads with the FBI, Davis said.
Union County Coroner Bill Havens said he couldn't comment on any possible cause of death. The body was taken to Indianapolis on Wednesday for a forensic autopsy, he said.
Havens said he's not sure if the autopsy will be done today because the facility is also doing autopsies on a Monroe County police officer who died and on three bodies found buried under concrete in the basement of an Indianapolis-area home.
Havens said identification was found with the body, but investigators still are working on a positive identification.
Davis said her driver's license was found and her description fit the body found.
"She was an extremely small girl," Davis said.
Middleburg Heights police chief John W. Maddox said the last time any member of Homick's family had seen her was Jan. 13. Her mother filed the missing person report on Feb. 2.
"Her mother said they weren't close," Chief Maddox said.
Homick lived alone in a condominium in Middleburg Heights. Police found a two-week accumulation of mail and answering machine messages when they went to the condo.
The mother was not able to give them any information about boyfriends or other associates.
"We don't even know where she worked," Maddox said.
The report indicated the condominium was neat with nothing out of place.
Indiana State Police were led to the Middleburg Heights' missing person report by checking the Ohio registration on Homick's Honda.
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Ohio
Feb 12, 2005 13:33:31 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Feb 12, 2005 13:33:31 GMT -5
Brad Phillips spent endless days driving around Clermont County, looking for his father's wheelchair-equipped, teal Ford Econoline van.
For three months, the rest of Timothy Phillips' family did the same, taking a county map and sectioning it off, driving back roads and highways to be sure every spot was covered. They took fliers to local businesses and police departments.
Police used sonar devices four times to troll for evidence of the van in Harsha Lake at East Fork State Park, where a despondent Phillips, 46, told his family he planned to kill himself after having a surgical procedure that put him in more pain.
Thursday night, authorities found the van, submerged 30 feet down in the 2,160-acre lake. Phillip's body and wheelchair were inside.
Officials suspect Phillips, who was partially paralyzed after injuring his spinal cord in a bicycling accident two decades ago, committed suicide.
"It's just a huge relief for the family so they can have their loved one back and receive closure," said Union Township Detective . Sgt. Scott Gaviglia.
Phillips was last seen at his Union Township home Nov. 1.
His body was found at 7:15 p.m. Thursday after the van was towed from the lake about 130 feet from a boat ramp off Bantam Road.
Thursday's search used an advanced sonar device.
"The family is relieved and grateful for all the prayers and support we've received during the past few months," said Shelly Bowling, Timothy Phillips' sister-in-law.
Despite his condition, Phillips had been able to drive, and still worked.
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Ohio
Apr 1, 2005 13:14:14 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Apr 1, 2005 13:14:14 GMT -5
The body of a 29-year-old Ohio woman was found on a residential hillside Thursday, police said.
The body of Angela Schneider of Chesapeake, Ohio, was spotted just after 7 a.m. by a Marshall University ROTC unit out on a routine morning march, police said in a news release.
It was not immediately clear how Schneider died, Sgt. Rocky Johnson said. Officials believe Schneider may have died or been killed elsewhere, and her body dumped on the hillside.
The state medical examiner's office in Charleston was scheduled to perform an autopsy Friday.
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Ohio
Apr 4, 2005 12:13:29 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Apr 4, 2005 12:13:29 GMT -5
The body found Saturday in Columbia Township has been identified as that of a 41-year-old Norwood woman who had been missing for more than a week, police said Sunday.
Police identified the woman as Sabrina Hankins, of the 4500 block of Ashland Avenue. Her body was discovered Saturday in a container in the rear of the bigg's store at 3240 Highland Ave.
The Hamilton County Coroner's Office is investigating.
On Thursday night, Hankins' 44-year-old boyfriend, John C. Bebeau, was found dead in the couple's apartment, police said. Police described his death as suspicious. A note found at the crime scene led investigators to search Rumpke landfill in Colerain Township Friday night in search of Hankins. That search turned up no clues to Hankins' whereabouts.
Lois Hankins, Sabrina's sister, said Friday that family members had last heard from her the previous Saturday. The family knew something was wrong, said Lois Hankins, when Sabrina failed to show up Thursday at Pleasant Ridge Chili & Restaurant on Montgomery Road, where she sometimes helped a sister who worked there.
As of Sunday, police had not commented on how they think Hankins and Bebeau died.
Family members on Sunday described Hankins as a fun-loving person who had talked recently about ending her six-month relationship with Bebeau.
Lois Hankins said her sister had just bought new furniture for her apartment and had become "fed up" with Bebeau because he wasn't working.
"She didn't want to throw him out," she said. "She wanted him to get a job."
Chester Hankins, 39, of Norwood, said he and sister had a "really close" relationship.
"I didn't understand why she didn't come to me for help,'' he said.
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Ohio
Jul 21, 2005 9:25:26 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jul 21, 2005 9:25:26 GMT -5
A body found in woods north of Summit Lake on Tuesday is that of a 16-year-old boy who had been missing since last week.
Charles Love's mother told police that her son had been missing from their Summit Lake neighborhood home since July 13. She reported his disappearance over the weekend, police said. The teen had left home before but wasn't a habitual runaway, Sgt. TonyStarvaggi said.
Someone walking along Summit Lake about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday called police to report seeing what appeared to be a body in woods nearby. At first, medical investigators and detectives thought it would take time to identify the body because it was in an advanced stage of decomposition.
But by using the victim's fingerprints, they have been able to determine the body was Love's, Akron police Lt. David Whiddon said Wednesday.
Now, investigators are trying to find out how the teen died and whether his death was a homicide. An autopsy was performed Wednesday, but Summit County medical investigators said they did not turn up a cause or manner of death.
Further testing will be conducted, including a skeletal examination. The teen's remains will be sent to the Lucas County Coroner's Office in Toledo, where a forensic anthropologist will examine them, the medical investigators said.
``We don't know how he died, but we're not waiting,'' Whiddon said of the police investigation. ``We're going to try and find out as much information as we can. We're investigating it as an unexplained death at this point.... We're talking to people to figure out where he was at and what he was doing.''
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 330-375-2490.
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