By Gary Ogle and Krystal Smalley
gogle@wbcowqel.com; ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
UPDATE: This story has been updated at 11:10 a.m. Sept. 3 to include the names of the four murder victims.
The Bucyrus Police Department and Crawford County Coroner Dr. Michael Johnson have released the names of the four victims whose bodies were found in their homes within the last 48 hours.
The victims are 55-year-old Billy Jack Chatman found Monday on Fremont Street; 67-year-old Freelin Hensley found Monday at Marion Road apartments; 65-year-old Darrell Lewis found Tuesday at Bucyrus Plaza; and 65-year-old Gerald Lee Smith found Tuesday at West Mansfield street.
The bodies of all four victims have been transported to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office to be autopsied. It is expected that preliminary autopsy reports will be available Thursday morning. All four deaths have been ruled homicides, but the exact cause of death is still pending as per the autopsy reports.
More information is expected to be released Thursday morning.
Two additional deaths are being investigated by Bucyrus police following two deaths on Monday.
The first call came in at 2:43 Monday afternoon when relatives asked police to do a welfare check on a 67-year-old man in the Marion Road apartments. The individual was found deceased. His identity is being withheld pending the notification of all family members.
Less than a half-hour later police were called to the 1300 block of Fremont Street where the body of 55-year-old Billy Jack Chatman was discovered by a relative. Koepke said over the phone Monday evening there was blunt force trauma to Chatman’s skull.
The two deaths were originally thought to be unrelated until police began questioning a person of interested Tuesday.
According to an announcement from the Bucyrus Police Department Tuesday afternoon, officers are interviewing a person of interest believed to be involved in the suspicious deaths of two individuals discovered in Bucyrus Monday. Based on the information provided, two additional deceased individuals were discovered Tuesday morning.
A BCI Crime Scene Unit had been gathering evidence at a multiple dwelling home at 218 W. Mansfield St. late Tuesday afternoon when Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall arrived.
“We’ll be reviewing the information as soon as we get it when the investigation has been completed and make our determination about the appropriate charges and get those filed as quickly as possible,” Crall said.
Crawford County Coroner Dr. Michael Johnson is in charge of the investigations into both deaths. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine are actively involved with both investigations. The Bucyrus Police Department said it will release additional information as the investigation progresses.
Bucyrus police Chief Dave Koepke and Crawford County Sheriff Scott Kent held a press conference outside Bucyrus City Hall Tuesday evening to address the four deaths in Bucyrus.
“We just want to reassure the public that the detectives and the technicians from BCI and the Sheriff’s Office, they’re doing a fantastic job, a very professional job to stay thorough in the investigation,” Koepke said as he stood on the steps of City Hall. “This is (the) biggest message that we want to give out: all the information that we can share at this time is available to you. We don’t want to compromise the case in any way, any further, so we’re sharing the information as soon as we can.”
Koepke said they have not established a connection between the victims that they can state publicly.
“It all goes back to a thorough investigation,” he said. “When the autopsy is done we’ll know a lot more. Then we can start to retrace the steps of the suspect and we’ll be constantly evaluating the evidence and any other possible leads because we don’t know 100 percent that there’s wasn’t maybe other leads to pursue, other evidence to collect.”
There have been four victims discovered between Monday and Tuesday. A 67-year-old man was found in the Marion Road apartments Monday afternoon and 55-year-old Billy Jack Chatman was found a half hour later in the 1300 block of Fremont St.
“In the course of speaking with him (the person of interest), other officers went to check the story out and did in fact find other crime scenes,” Kopeke stated.
A 65-year-old victim had been found at a W. Mansfield residence and another victim in their 50s was found at Bucyrus Plaza.
The names of three of the victims have not been released as the department attempts to notify their families.