After just over two hours of deliberation, a jury found a South Toledo man guilty Friday of robbing an Oregon woman at gunpoint before stabbing her to death and leaving her body in a field in November, 2019.
Brian Friess, 37, of the 1200 block of Slater Street, was convicted of first-degree felony charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping, all with gun specifications, for the murder of Michelle Keagler, 30. Friess was also convicted of arson, a fourth-degree felony, for setting her car on fire afterward.
“Michelle was a young woman with two kids. You heard from her parents that she struggled with addiction, but she was getting her life back together. She was looking for attention and unfortunately, that is what she met,” assistant county prosecutor Michael Bahner said in court, pointing to the defendant.
“You heard from Brian’s own mouth that’s he’s a manipulating S-O-B. He meets women. He cons them. He lies to them. No real man does something like that. He’s not a real man. He’s a butcher,” Mr. Bahner said.
Friess is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Lori Olender on April 14.
Over five days of testimony in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, prosecutors said Friess routinely conned women he met on dating sites into giving him money. Friess admitted as such to Toledo police detectives, according to video footage of an interview conducted at the Safety Building shortly after Ms. Keagler’s death.
“Whatever woman I talk to, I get them to give me money.... They think we’re going to be in a relationship,” Friess said, estimating that he was usually able to score between $200 and $300.
On at least two occasions, Ms. Keagler gave the man $200, Friess told police, adding that he’d give her fabricated reasons for needing the money, but often spent it at Hollywood Casino Toledo or, at least once, the Cedar Point amusement park.
“I had no intent of paying her back,” Friess said. “I was going to get the money and ghost her.”
Friess texted Michelle to arrange a time to meet up and pay her back.
“My intent was to see if I could get some more money from her at that time because I needed more money,” he said, according to the video recording.
The pair planned to meet up at Lido Lanes, 865 South Ave., on the night of Nov. 8, 2019, and cell-phone tower records showed each traveling toward the bowling alley just before 9 p.m.
While Friess claimed Ms. Keagler never showed, video surveillance footage from a Key Bank ATM at South Avenue and Broadway Street showed Ms. Keagler approach in her 2011 Chevrolet Equinox.
She smoked a cigarette and ran a hand through her hair as she withdrew $300 from two bank accounts, leaving less than $20 left in each. A man whose face was shrouded in darkness held a gun at her side as she handed him the cash.
Video surveillance from a nearby gas station then showed the Equinox traveling east, and minutes later, cell tower records from both Friess’s and Ms. Keagler’s cell phones placed them near where Ms. Keagler’s body would be found the next morning, in a field near Kuhlman Drive and South, with 24 stab wounds in her stomach, chest, arms, face, and back.
No drag marks, footprints, or tire tracks were discovered by investigators and no murder weapon was ever recovered.
Police later discovered a firearm at the home of Chad Friess, the defendant’s brother, after executing a search warrant at his Havre Street residence. Ms. Keagler’s DNA was found on the trigger.
Also on the evening of Nov. 8, 2019, Ms. Keagler’s Equinox was discovered set ablaze in an alleyway. Cell tower evidence places Friess, his brother, Chad, and his half-brother, James Haefner, in the general region where the car was discovered shortly before a 9-1-1 call was made.
In June, Chad, 36, of the 400 block of Havre, and Haefner, 27, of the 1100 block of Mason Street, entered Alford pleas — not admitting guilt, but conceding sufficient evidence existed for convictions — to charges they lied to Toledo detectives investigating Ms. Keagler’s murder. Chad Friess was sentenced to two years in prison for an obstruction of justice conviction, while Haefner got probation.
Defense attorney Joseph Westmeyer separately argued the state’s evidence was far from conclusive. Cell tower evidence is far from precise, he said while insisting police did not thoroughly investigate Ms. Keagler’s ex-boyfriend, Mark Dodd, even though he had threatened Ms. Keagler’s life just a month before she died.
“They failed to look at other evidence. They failed to look at other people,” Mr. Westmeyer said. “Mark Dodd was a suspect who was quickly and easily excused.”
Mr. Dodd committed suicide shortly after Ms. Keagler’s death. Toledo police detective Paul Marchyok testified Mr. Dodd was cleared as a suspect after he provided an alibi.
First Published March 25, 2022, 7:56 p.m.
