Ohio
Hundreds of homicides in Ohio remain unsolved; AG focuses on these cold cases
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -The mystery of who killed Debra Miller more than 40 years ago in Mansfield has now been solved thanks to old-fashioned police work and DNA technology.
The announcement from police Monday was a reminder there are still hundreds of other unsolved cases across Ohio.
19 Investigates spoke to the attorney general on what cold cases the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is working on.
Case closed
Mansfield Police say they now know the identity of Debra Miller’s killer, the man who brutally beat the 18-year-old to death in her apartment back in 1981 and evaded police for decades.
DNA evidence led detectives to Debra’s neighbor, James Vanest, 68 years old.
He died in standoff with police last month.
You can read more about how police solved the case here.
Mansfield Police Chief Jason Bammann celebrated the big case solve.
But he’s already focusing on the next unsolved cases he has in his department.
“I would love to close every case, I would love to give every family the closure that they so deserve, but you know we take it one case at a time,” he said.
Hundreds of unsolved cases
19 Investigates got a copy of the Ohio Attorney General’s cold case database, which shows there are more than 2,000 unsolved homicides across the state.
“Even one unsolved murder case is a problem, it’s a tragedy. The people who loved that person don’t know what happened or how it happened or why it happened,” Attorney General Dave Yost said.
Attorney General Yost said it’s a fact some of these cases will never be solved, because they’re so old and the killers have passed away.
He said BCI’s Cold Case Unit is focusing on supporting local law enforcement in cases that happened over the last 40 years.
“We’ve got still an opportunity to get to a place of justice for those cases, not that the older cases don’t matter, but the ones I’m really excited about are the cases where new science can turn up a new lead. Where DNA advances will maybe able to bring information out of the old evidence that was collected in 1985 or something and lead us to the perpetrator,” he said.
Just one new lead could be enough to bring the families of these victims answers.
If you know anything about a cold case out there, give police a call.
Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol arrested online political writer D.J. Byrnes, also known as The Rooster, at the statehouse on June 1 on a misdemeanor warrant.
A patrol spokesman said Byrnes, who posts his stories to his Substack subscribers, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. He was booked into the Franklin County Jail, records show. The patrol did not provide further details.
Byrnes’ colleague, Max Littman, said he believes the arrest is related to Byrnes texting photos of cartoon character Shrek’s penis to a state senator. “If that is in fact true, that he was arrested over that, then it’s blatant targeting a political opponent and journalist,” Littman said.
The arrest warrant for telecommunications harassment came from the city of Kirtland in Lake County. The warrant alleges that Byrnes sent two photos on May 6 to “J.C.” with the intent to harass.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, did not return messages seeking comment.
Byrnes routinely works the halls power at Columbus City Hall, Ohio State University and the Ohio Statehouse, looking for tips and ambushing officeholders for his Substack reports. He can be both charming and confrontational.
Recently, he posted a story based on one anonymous source who told him that Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tried to get into the New York Knicks locker room after the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA playoffs.
The story, and its spread, so bothered Ramaswamy that he posted a lengthy refute on X, calling it 100% fake.
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@usatodayco.com and @lbischoff on X.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A bird rarely seen in North America was apparently spotted in Northeast Ohio of all places recently.
A lesser frigatebird was seen flying over Sippo Lake near Canton, according to several bird enthusiasts and photographers.
A photographer named Alex Eberts was kind enough to share his photos with ABC 6. You can see them at the top of this page.
Another photographer named Austin Rice posted this photo on Instagram and shared the details of what he saw on the night of May 23 in Stark County.
If you don’t know much about the lesser frigatebird, a site called eBird.com offers this description:
The smallest of the frigatebirds, but note that the female is larger than the male. Adults are easier to identify than younger birds. Adult males are almost entirely black with a red throat and white spurs emanating outwards from the body onto the wing. Adult females have a black belly and throat, a white breast and hind collar, with similar white spurs on their sides. Juvenile and immature plumages are variable and are best separated from other frigatebirds by size when comparison is possible. Mostly silent except while breeding in oceanic islands. Strongly pelagic during non-breeding season but wind-blown or fatigued birds can be found from continental coasts.
Eberts said in his own Facebook post that the May 23 sighting in Stark County was only the seventh reported sighting of the lesser frigatebird in the contiguous United States. The bird is more likely to be seen near the Indian Ocean, the Southeast Asian seas, Northern Australia to Western and Central Pacific Ocean, according to birdsoftheworld.org.
BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) — Multiple police departments were responding to the report of a large fight at Boardman Park Sunday evening.
Police told our crew on the scene that they received a call around 8:30 p.m. for a large fight at the park involving over 100 people. Boardman Police Chief Todd Werth said the caller reported someone at the park may have a gun.
Due to the nature of the call, mutual aid was requested for multiple surrounding departments.
Chief Werth said officers determined an argument occurred, but there was no physical altercation. He confirmed there was no gun present.
No arrests were made and no one was injured.
People were being ushered out of the park and the park director shut down the park for the night.
Boardman Township officials say they appreciate the quick response of local law enforcement.
Dominic O’Brien contributed to this report.
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