FREMONT — After more than two years and an initial investigation that sputtered, the Sandusky County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man Thursday they believe killed a Fremont woman whose shot and beaten body was found in her car’s trunk.
Daniel Myers, 48, was arrested Thursday morning in the Wooded Acres Campground in Lindsey, Ohio, Sheriff Chris Hilton said.
Mr. Myers has been charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence in the death of Heather Bogle, and was held in the Sandusky County jail pending an appearance today in Sandusky County Court in Clyde.
Mr. Myers worked with Ms. Bogle at the Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Sheriff Hilton said.
“They worked in the same line, doing the same job, and they saw each other every night because they were working the same shift,” he said.
That work connection, however, is not what led to Mr. Myers’ arrest.
In the past three weeks, investigators searched electronic communications, “social media and those sorts of things,” Sheriff Hilton said. The results of those searches led investigators to search properties on Friday at the Emerald Estates mobile home park in Clyde.
Evidence collected there, which included forensic evidence, led to the search at Wooded Acres, and then Mr. Myers’ arrest.
Ms. Bogle, 28, was found April 10, 2015, in her car’s trunk at a Clyde apartment complex. She had gone missing after leaving work the day before. An autopsy determined Ms. Bogle died of two gunshot wounds and blunt-force trauma throughout her body.
No motive has been determined, and Sheriff Hilton said the investigation continues, with potential accomplices still being considered.
“We are reluctant to fill in the blanks because this is still an ongoing investigation, there are still other additional suspects,” said Timothy Braun, the Sandusky County prosecutor. “I don’t think this thing is over by any means today.”
Sheriff Hilton said he could not say Thursday whether investigators believe Mr. Myers acted alone in the killing.
The long-running investigation became a point of contention, in particular during the contested sheriff’s election last year.
Detective Sean O’Connell, who was leading the murder investigation, resigned in September before facing a disciplinary hearing over accusations he shared confidential documents related to the case. Those accusations came amid an investigation of then-Sheriff Kyle Overmyer, who ran for re-election despite being charged with stealing prescription drugs to feed an addiction to painkillers.
Mr. Overmyer eventually pleaded guilty to felony charges of theft in office and deception to obtain dangerous drugs, among others, and was sentenced in December to four years in prison.
Detective O’Connell cooperated in the Overmyer investigation, and the Ohio attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation claimed the sheriff had launched the internal investigation about the detective to retaliate for that cooperation.
Last year, BCI took over the investigation into Ms. Bogle’s murder. Sheriff Hilton made refocusing on Ms. Bogle’s killer a focal point, not just during his campaign but after he was elected in November.
“I would like to think that the community now can look at their sheriff’s office and believe that there are competent people going and looking out for their best interest and the best interest for everybody in the county,” he said Thursday.
The most recent investigation was almost entirely separate from prior efforts, save for some initial information collected. Previous inquiry never included Mr. Myers as a suspect, and investigators never searched electronic communications, Sheriff Hilton said.
“I can’t put myself there two years ago,” he said when asked why those searches were not done previously. “I can tell you that investigation is officially done.”
Mr. Myers did not speak to authorities after he was read his rights, and instead asked for an attorney, Sheriff Hilton said. He cited the work of BCI and the Clyde and Fremont police departments as instrumental in helping sheriff’s investigators.
Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.
First Published June 2, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
