6 missing, dead
Six women have been reported missing in the Chillicothe, Ohio, area in the past year. The bodies of four have been found:
• May 24, 2014. Tameka Lynch, 30.
• Jan. 2. Shasta Himelrick, 20.
• May 29. Timberly Claytor, 38.
• June 20. Tiffany Sayre, 26.
Still missing:
• Wanda Lemons,
37, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and 135 pounds with shoulder-length
brown hair and blue eyes. She has a tattoo of dolphins making a heart on
her lower back. Missing since Dec. 28.
• Charlotte Trego,
38, 5 foot 4 inches tall and 160 pounds with dark hair and blue eyes.
She has a tattoos of “JAMES” on her chest and a Playboy bunny on her
upper arm. Missing since May 3, 2014.
Source: Southern Ohio Crime Stoppers
Four days before investigators found her body, Lynch's husband
reported her missing. He told police he had not seen her since May 16.
Although
a coroner determined Lynch likely died from a multiple drug overdose,
her manner of death was the result of "undetermined circumstances."
After
finding Lynch, law enforcement searched along Paint Creek and into the
Scioto River for any signs of another missing woman — 29-year-old
Charlotte Trego. Her mother reported her missing two days after Lynch
was reported missing.
Trego hadn't been seen in two weeks, which Yvonne Boggs said was atypical for her daughter.
Trego
had left her home on the east side of Chillicothe on foot after a
roommate evicted her, according to the initial police report. No sign of
her was found during the search of the creek and river, and law
enforcement have indicated they've been unable to learn much more.
Next
came Wanda Lemons, 38, last seen by her mother Oct. 2 and reported
missing Dec. 28. A friend of Lemons told Chillicothe police she had last
seen her Nov. 3 and she had talked about going with a truck driver to Texas where Lemons has family.Lemons' mother told
police that she would go for lengthy periods without speaking to her
daughter but it was unusual for her not to call or visit during the
holidays.
At about the same time Lemons' mother went to police, a
pregnant 20-year-old, Shasta Himelrick, went missing. Her family last
saw her Christmas night and quickly reported her missing.
She was
captured on film at a Chillicothe gas station the morning after
Christmas. Her car was found abandoned, the doors open and battery
drained, about 20 minutes south of town near the Scioto River.
Her
body was found in the river Jan. 2. Although the coroner ruled
Himelrick's death a suicide by drowning, her family and friends have
their doubts, saying Himelrick was happy about being pregnant.
"I
think if she (Himelrick) did do what they say, I think someone may have
forced her to do it," her grandmother, Janice Timmons, told the
Chillicothe Gazette in March.
Himelrick's
disappearance heightened awareness among residents here about those
missing, but speculation that a serial killer might be in their midst
picked up steam when Tiffany Sayre went missing May 11.
Sayre had been at the Chillicothe Inn with two men that night and
told a friend she was going to stop by again before going home. As the
community came together in the city's park for a vigil for Sayre and the
other women May 29, a woman found a body in some weeds a few hundred
yards from U.S. 23 — a highway known as a primary route for drug
trafficking — about 6 miles south of Chillicothe.
The body was
Timberly Claytor, a woman not yet reported missing. She had been shot
three times in the head, and law enforcement quickly closed in on Jason
A. McCrary, 36, of Chillicothe, who was convicted of unlawful sexual
conduct with a minor more than a decade ago.
He has not been
charged with Claytor's murder but remains in the Ross County Jail on a
charge that he failed to register his address as a sex offender.
Investigators are waiting for results of DNA collected in a vehicle
seized during a search warrant of McCrary's home before filing charges.
On
Saturday, just three weeks after Claytor was found shot, a couple of
hikers found Sayre's body in a culvert not far from the location of
Lynch's body more than a year ago. While results of an autopsy are
pending, officials have confirmed her body had been wrapped in a white cloth and duct tape was found nearby.They are investigating her death as a homicide.
Ramping up the investigation
Before
Claytor's body was found, Chillicothe Police Chief Keith Washburn asked
the FBI for help, and a task force including the Ross County Sheriff's
Office was created.
The task force is working in an undisclosed
location with members of local, state and federal agencies and has
created a dedicated tip line and e-mail. Sayre's aunt, Shelly Hehr, this
week encouraged people with information to report it.
"Somebody
did this. Somebody is responsible, and somebody knows who is
responsible," Hehr said. "I know if you are scared, you might not want
to come forward. But you should be scared if you don't come forward,
because if somebody doesn't come forward and help stop this, you don't
know who could be next."
When they receive tips for any of the
missing women, Washburn said detectives assigned to the cases drop
whatever they are doing to follow up. The problem is that many of the
tips turn out to be false.
"We've checked land, air and water for
any signs of (the women)," Washburn said. "But the problem is you're
trying to find a needle in a haystack unless you have the information.
The information we have is running dry on some of these cases."
Investigators
have traveled throughout southern Ohio and Kentucky trying to get
information on Sayre, in addition to interviewing subjects and
administering polygraph tests. On May 23, officers also did something
they rarely do when they arrested three alleged prostitutes in hopes of
getting information about the missing women.
Washburn said prostitution in the Chillicothe area appears to be driven by a need for quick money to purchase drugs.
"One
of the things that people have said is we treat these people
differently because of their lifestyle," Washburn said. "That is totally
untrue. These ladies are someone's daughter, someone's mother, sister,
aunt. These are human beings. We are going to give it 110% to try to
find them."
As investigators continue pounding the pavement, residents in Chillicothe also have been coming together in marches and vigils.
A
Facebook page was created to spread the missing women's information
across social media. A GoFundMe has been created to help Sayre's family
pay for her burial.
And two weeks ago, sisters-in-law Samantha and
Mary Green began a weekly community protest that they're calling No
Dope, Just Hope.
"I'll be out here every Saturday, even if I'm
70," Samantha Green said. "We need to protest. There's no future for our
children if it keeps going this way."
Timberly Claytor (Photo: Courtesy of family)
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