Post by admin on Jan 23, 2007 2:16:41 GMT -5
I have posted this article because of Sheriff Simpson's assurances that homicide in Preble County is "uncommon"...
(Source) www.thecourier.com/issues/2004/oct/101204.htm
Findlay man's death another tragic link to Preble County
By J. STEVEN DILLON
Staff WRITER
For the third time in as many years, an unnatural death has linked Hanthingy County to another rural county in southwestern Ohio.
The discovery Saturday of the body of Findlay resident Joshua W. Chidester in his 1989 Chevy van in a truck stop just east of the Ohio/Indiana line, marks the third time in three years that Hanthingy and Preble counties have shared a tragedy.
Earlier this year, Findlay tool dealer William E. Doolittle Jr., 41, was found shot to death in Warren County, which is just east of Preble County. Doolittle's suspected killer, Wayne E. Buck, who goes on trial for murder later this year, resided in Lake Lakengren, just south of Eaton in Preble County.
And back in the summer of 2001, Fred A. Smith, 43, a Preble County businessman who was in Findlay for a trap shoot, was killed after being abducted from a Tiffin Avenue bar.
Smith's body was found in a shallow grave in Wood County, not far from Cygnet. Smith's killers, Jimmie Gene Woodland and Tabatha Ulsh, are now in prison.
While no foul play is suspected in Chidester's death, it remained a mystery Monday.
Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson said preliminary results from Chidester's autopsy, conducted Sunday in Montgomery County, revealed no signs of trauma on the body. Simpson said toxicology results won't be available for 2-4 weeks.
"At this point we consider it a criminal investigation, but we consider his death more unusual than suspicious right now," the sheriff said. "(But) that could change depending on what we find out when the autopsy is complete."
While the geographical connection in the three deaths is happenstance, there are similarities between the two counties.
Both are dissected by heavily-traveled federal highways: Hanthingy by Interstate 75, Preble by Interstate 70. The majority of the population in both counties is located in their respective county seats, Findlay and Eaton; and each county has a relatively low crime rate.
Simpson said Monday that Preble County, like Hanthingy County, sees its share of drug trafficking due to highway traffic, but he noted that homicides and other unnatural deaths are uncommon there, as they are here.
"We don't have many homicides at all," Simpson said. "We're a fairly quiet area when it comes to serious crime."
The sheriff said Chidester's death is being checked out because of the circumstances surrounding it. He said the victim's young age and the fact that he was found somewhere other than where he was expected to be, make the death unusual.
"We're doing everything we'd do in any criminal case at this point," he continued. "But things could change depending on what we learn once the autopsy results are in."
The location of Chidester's van -- at a truck stop near Gettysburg, between I-70 and U.S. 40 -- is one of the unanswered questions surrounding the death.
Chidester, 27, had been in Dayton visiting a friend and left that city about 9 p.m. Oct. 1, and was apparently en route back to Findlay on I-75 north when he called another friend in Columbus.
That cell phone call, at 10:01 p.m., was the last time anyone heard from Chidester.
He was reported missing to Dayton police Oct. 3, and last week family and friends checked hospitals, jails and police agencies all along I-75 in an attempt to find him.
Sgt. Jimmy Rohrer of the Dayton Police Department said Monday the Dayton area media helped spread the word that Chidester was missing.
"It was pretty widely known, at least in the Dayton area, that Joshua was missing," he said. "There were a lot of people aware of it."
Based on the belief that Chidester may have gotten close to home before being detoured, Rohrer said an aerial search for his van was conducted Friday in Allen County, using a helicopter.
That search, however, turned out to be fruitless. The next day, five counties to the south of Hanthingy County, the van was spotted at the rear of the truck stop by a maintenance worker.
Authorities believe it had been parked there for at least several days.
Contact staff writer J. Steven Dillon at: (419) 427-8423 stevedillon@thecourier.com
(Source) www.thecourier.com/issues/2004/oct/101204.htm
Findlay man's death another tragic link to Preble County
By J. STEVEN DILLON
Staff WRITER
For the third time in as many years, an unnatural death has linked Hanthingy County to another rural county in southwestern Ohio.
The discovery Saturday of the body of Findlay resident Joshua W. Chidester in his 1989 Chevy van in a truck stop just east of the Ohio/Indiana line, marks the third time in three years that Hanthingy and Preble counties have shared a tragedy.
Earlier this year, Findlay tool dealer William E. Doolittle Jr., 41, was found shot to death in Warren County, which is just east of Preble County. Doolittle's suspected killer, Wayne E. Buck, who goes on trial for murder later this year, resided in Lake Lakengren, just south of Eaton in Preble County.
And back in the summer of 2001, Fred A. Smith, 43, a Preble County businessman who was in Findlay for a trap shoot, was killed after being abducted from a Tiffin Avenue bar.
Smith's body was found in a shallow grave in Wood County, not far from Cygnet. Smith's killers, Jimmie Gene Woodland and Tabatha Ulsh, are now in prison.
While no foul play is suspected in Chidester's death, it remained a mystery Monday.
Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson said preliminary results from Chidester's autopsy, conducted Sunday in Montgomery County, revealed no signs of trauma on the body. Simpson said toxicology results won't be available for 2-4 weeks.
"At this point we consider it a criminal investigation, but we consider his death more unusual than suspicious right now," the sheriff said. "(But) that could change depending on what we find out when the autopsy is complete."
While the geographical connection in the three deaths is happenstance, there are similarities between the two counties.
Both are dissected by heavily-traveled federal highways: Hanthingy by Interstate 75, Preble by Interstate 70. The majority of the population in both counties is located in their respective county seats, Findlay and Eaton; and each county has a relatively low crime rate.
Simpson said Monday that Preble County, like Hanthingy County, sees its share of drug trafficking due to highway traffic, but he noted that homicides and other unnatural deaths are uncommon there, as they are here.
"We don't have many homicides at all," Simpson said. "We're a fairly quiet area when it comes to serious crime."
The sheriff said Chidester's death is being checked out because of the circumstances surrounding it. He said the victim's young age and the fact that he was found somewhere other than where he was expected to be, make the death unusual.
"We're doing everything we'd do in any criminal case at this point," he continued. "But things could change depending on what we learn once the autopsy results are in."
The location of Chidester's van -- at a truck stop near Gettysburg, between I-70 and U.S. 40 -- is one of the unanswered questions surrounding the death.
Chidester, 27, had been in Dayton visiting a friend and left that city about 9 p.m. Oct. 1, and was apparently en route back to Findlay on I-75 north when he called another friend in Columbus.
That cell phone call, at 10:01 p.m., was the last time anyone heard from Chidester.
He was reported missing to Dayton police Oct. 3, and last week family and friends checked hospitals, jails and police agencies all along I-75 in an attempt to find him.
Sgt. Jimmy Rohrer of the Dayton Police Department said Monday the Dayton area media helped spread the word that Chidester was missing.
"It was pretty widely known, at least in the Dayton area, that Joshua was missing," he said. "There were a lot of people aware of it."
Based on the belief that Chidester may have gotten close to home before being detoured, Rohrer said an aerial search for his van was conducted Friday in Allen County, using a helicopter.
That search, however, turned out to be fruitless. The next day, five counties to the south of Hanthingy County, the van was spotted at the rear of the truck stop by a maintenance worker.
Authorities believe it had been parked there for at least several days.
Contact staff writer J. Steven Dillon at: (419) 427-8423 stevedillon@thecourier.com
