Free Republic

Nearly half a century after a young California woman was strangled, officials say a thumbprint on a carton of cigarettes has led to an arrest. Willie Eugene Sims was arrested in Jefferson, Ohio, in connection with the death of Jeanette Ralston, according to a Friday statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Sims, 69, has been charged with murder and was arraigned on Friday in Ashtabula County Court before being sent to California. (snip) A thumbprint found on Ralston’s cigarette carton in her car was found to match Sims’s last fall after law enforcement had asked to run...

ASHTABULA — Two women face charges after a bizarre incident that unfolded when a dead man was dropped off at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room on Monday. Karen Casbohm and Loreen Bea Feralo have been charged with gross abuse of a corpse and theft after dropping off the body of Douglas Layman, 80, at ACMC and leaving, according to Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell and Ashtabula Prosecuting Attorney Cecilia Cooper. Before arriving at the hospital, the women allegedly first put Layman’s body in the passenger seat of their vehicle, drove to a bank and tried to withdraw money...

An Ohio high school student training to be an EMT was charged with a felony and sent to jail for 13 days because police found a pocketknife during an unauthorized search of his car. Jordan Wiser, an 18-year-old student at Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus in Jefferson, Ohio, is an EMT trainee with a passion for self-defense and public service. He aspires to be a firefighter, and is a certified emergency vehicle operator. Wiser is comfortable with weapons, and posts Youtube videos of himself talking about law enforcement, self-defense and video games. Apparently, school administrators caught wind of the...