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Tag: Jenna Jordan

  • Search heats up for escaped killer 60 years after Ohio teen’s murder

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Investigators say a convicted child killer and known sexual predator could be anywhere except where he is supposed to be: behind bars.

    What You Need To Know

    • Lester Eubanks, 82, is one of the U.S. Marshals Service’s “15 Most Wanted Fugitives”

    • Eubanks was sentenced to death for the Nov. 1965 murder and attempted rape of Mary Ellen Deener, 14, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972

    • On Dec. 7, 1973, Eubanks escaped from custody during an unsupervised furlough at a Columbus shopping center

    Lester Eubanks, 82, is one of the U.S. Marshals Service’s “15 Most Wanted Fugitives,” and Dep. U.S. Marshal Vinny Piccoli is now the lead investigator tasked with tracking him down.

    “It’s kind of surreal and crazy to look back at a case from, you know, when this initial incident happened in 1965, and then now it’s come all this time and all this way,” Piccoli said.

    On Nov. 14, 1965, Mansfield police found Mary Ellen Deener’s body behind a vacant house on North Mulberry Street. Within hours, Eubanks confessed to killing the 14-year-old during an attempted rape.

    “My poor sweet sister,” said Myrtle Carter. “Gotta fight you. A person that has karate experience, black belts or yellow, whatever color. And you fight a child.”

    At the time, Eubanks was out on bond for another attempted rape.

    “He should have been in jail then, because it wasn’t his first one then,” Carter said.

    Carter said her mother sent Mary Ellen and another younger sister, Bonnie, to finish chores at the laundromat after their home washer or dryer broke. She said Mary Ellen went by herself to get some change for the machines and Eubanks grabbed her on her way back.

    Mary Ellen Deener. (U.S. Marshals Service)

    “If she hadn’t run out of change, it would have been a whole different story,” Carter said. “Because he would have had to fight both of them.”

    She said that when her little sister tried to resist Eubanks, he shot her and left the scene. She said Eubanks returned when he heard her moaning.

    “That’s when he hit her in the head with a brick and killed her,” Carter said.

    She said the laundromat the girls were using was next to their grandmother’s house.

    “And her mother lived, like, say, 10 houses down on the opposite side of the street,” Carter said. “So where Mary Ellen’s body was found, that’s like halfway between both houses.”

    She said Bonnie saw Eubanks outside the laundromat.

    “We don’t know what he came back for, but she saw him in the window,” Carter said. “And when he left, she ran over to my grandmother’s house.”

    Carter said their grandmother went looking for Mary Ellen and found a group of police officers. When she told them about her missing granddaughter, Carter said her grandmother was asked to identify Mary Ellen’s body.

    “I never recall her talking about it,” Carter said.

    Carter said she attended every day of the Eubanks’ trial.

    “I wanted him to turn around and see me,” she said. “I just wanted him to know that somebody was here and somebody was there for her.”

    “This is a court document from Nov. 26, 1968, from Richland County Court of Common Pleas showing that Eubanks was found guilty by a jury of his peers and sentence should be carried out,” Piccoli said, referring to a scanned document on his computer screen. “At the time, it was the death penalty.”

    But before Eubanks had his appointment with Ohio Penitentiary’s electric chair, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. His sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    “But you get to go Christmas shopping,” Carter said. “Make it make sense.”

    On Dec. 7, 1973, Eubanks was treated to an unsupervised shopping trip in Columbus with other inmates as a reward for good behavior.

    “Who are you buying a gift for?” Carter said. “The people that let you out?”

    “Someone like him, he was supposed to be doing life,” Piccoli said. “He was literally sent to death and then was commuted to life in prison. So how he made his way onto an honor group, an honor assignment, is beyond me.“

    Eubanks used the opportunity to escape.

    “You look back at what he did, his crime back in 1965, and, you know, he spent roughly seven years in prison and then has been free for 50 plus years,” Piccoli said. “So it’s just, it’s not fair to Mary Ellen. It’s not fair to her family.“

    Piccoli now oversees the manhunt for Eubanks. In his first year as lead investigator, he brings a fresh perspective to the case.

    “I don’t believe that if he were to run, you know, now and try to escape, I don’t think he would be on the run for 50 years,” Piccoli said. “It’s just unfortunate. Back then, you know, investigators did all that they could with what they had. And he got lucky in a way.”

    “Fugitives … on the run,” U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott said, “will make up a story about their past where nobody’s going to go back and ask questions about. And they’re not going to have any family or friends, you know, to the ones they’re talking to, because they’re going to say that ‘my family was killed in a fire, traffic accident,’ or so on and so on.“

    But one thing Eubanks can’t change is his genetics.

    Elliott said 60 years after Mary Ellen’s murder, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office re-tested the clothes Eubanks wore that night and found his DNA in a pocket.

    “It’s a game changer,” Elliott said. “It’s going to get us a step closer to catching him. It’s only a matter of time.”

    Eubanks could be anywhere.

    Age-progression photos of what Lester Eubanks could look like now at age 82.

    Age-progression photos of what Lester Eubanks could look like now at age 82. (U.S. Marshals Service)

    One of his last known sightings was in Southern California where Piccoli said Eubanks likely worked in a mattress factory in the 1970s using the alias “Victor Young.”

    “There’s no doubt in my mind that someone has had recent contact with him,” Piccoli said. “You know, maybe not as recent as this week, but over, you know, the last month or years.”

    He hopes that person will offer information leading to the violent fugitive.

    “We have a job, and our job is to find individuals, no matter how long it takes to find individuals,” Piccoli said.

    The arrest would give Mary Ellen’s family some long-awaited closure.

    “I like to think I’d be like my mother would probably want me to be,” Carter said. “And say, ‘I forgive you.’”

    The U.S. Marshals Service is offering up to a $50,000 reward for information leading to Lester Eubanks. His only known distinguishing feature is a 1-to 3-inch scar or burn mark on the upper outer portion of his right arm.

    If you have any tips, call 1-866-4-WANTED.

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    Jenna Jordan

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  • ‘Living with a purpose’: Ohioan starts nonprofit to help prevent youth violence

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio — To help combat a rise in youth violence, one former gang member is using his experience to help steer some of the community’s most vulnerable toward a safer path.

    What You Need To Know

    • The nonprofit Ours Brothers Keepers provides support and resources to at-risk youth in Columbus to help prevent violence

    • The organization was founded by a former member of the Short North Posse gang after his release from prison as a way to give back and steer some of the community’s most vulnerable down a safer path

    • The nonprofit provides participants between the ages of 7 and 24 a variety of services like food, shelter, mentoring and an opportunity to learn life skills

    “This is a dream come true,” said Wesley Moore. “It’s like getting the lottery.”

    Wesley said he founded the nonprofit Ours Brothers Keepers to provide support and resources he never had while growing up.

    “I know how it feels to be at risk,” he said. “I know how it feels to not have a home, not have a kitchen table. So this is something that I try to provide for every youth who is going through the same similar story.”

    Wesley said that he and his brother Markey were raised surrounded by drugs and violence in Columbus.

    “You didn’t think nothing over it,” he said. “You didn’t think nothing was wrong with it. You know, most people, when we came out the house hungry and stuff, it was, ‘Here get some drugs.’”

    As he got older, Wesley joined the local gang.

    “So you start growing up, you see people,” he said. “That’s what you think; that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

    At age 18, a federal grand jury indicted Wesley and more than 40 other original members of the Short North Posse.

    He served 15 years in prison.

    “I pointed the fingers at everybody, like man, I can’t believe they got me put in jail,” Wesley said. “And so, like, after five years, I was like, I realized I put myself in here. I start realizing I made the choice. I made the decision.”

    He said he used the time while incarcerated to educate himself and said the experience gave him the vision for the nonprofit.

    “I don’t run from my past,” Wesley said. “It’s what God put me through. Had me walk this way to understand who I am today. So I’m thankful for it.”

    He said he drove trucks for 10 years after his release to earn the money to buy the East Columbus properties where his vision would turn into reality.

    “A lot of these kids are so in survival mode to where we break them in to show love or support,” Wesley said.

    Ours Brothers Keepers officially became a nonprofit organization five years ago to provide services missing in the community. He said they have received some financial support from the Columbus Mayor’s Office and the Franklin County Office on Aging, but most of what they provide is paid from their own pockets, earned through a construction company the brothers also operate.  

    “We don’t know nothing too much about grants and stuff,” Wesley said.

    Instead, he said they stretch a shoestring budget to provide for those between the ages of seven and 24 who show up daily, referred to the program through court systems, parents, social media and word of mouth.

    “My grandmother used to make a big, giant pot of spaghetti and feed 100 people, so I know we can make whatever little bit of money we had to make sure 65 youth stay safe and violence free,” he said.

    Besides mentoring kids and teens, the nonprofit provides several support services, such as food, clothes, skills training, temporary and transitional housing, and a community engagement center with a computer lab.

    At 15-years-old, David Price Jr. is one teen helping build some of the transitional housing through his participation in the program.

    “Teach us how to, like, save our money, teach us how to trade, put up drywall and keeping us safe,” he said.

    They are also learning how to earn an income. The kids are paid $15 an hour for their work helping bring Markey’s plans to life.

    “I always said, once I get older, I want to own homes and get in construction, so I’d never be homeless,” Markey said.

    The young adults are also paid for their work helping seniors in the community with their lawn care. The maintenance is free for the seniors and a way to provide the kids a sense of purpose.

    The young adults are also paid for their work helping seniors in the community with their lawn care. (Spectrum News 1/Jenna Jordan)

    “Put the guns down, pick up a check,” Wesley said. “Now the kids are like, ‘I don’t want no guns, I’m trying to get some money.’”

    Wesley said participants may not have weapons, which is one way the nonprofit is having a positive impact on community violence.

    “The violence will really go down and stay down, because the kids know they got an opportunity to make some money to be able to feed their family,” Wesley said. “A lot of that $300 go a long way at their house.”

    He said some of the most violent youth in the city are involved with Ours Brothers Keepers, including members of the Kia Boys, teaching them to own up to their bad choices and take responsibility.

    “I can honestly say, they ain’t stolen a car in two years,” Wesley said. “And the cars that were stolen that they did, I made sure they paid back the victims.”

    Wesley said his goal is to provide 100 kids, like Semaj Burgess, a place to go and something to do year-round.

    “Taught me just how to be a better person, how to better myself,” Burgess said while pushing a lawnmower.

    This is the 14-year-old’s second year in the program, and he is proud of his growth, learning the importance of brotherhood and community.

    “During school, like, I’m not gonna lie, I was getting into a lot of trouble,” Burgess said. “Just not knowing how to communicate with people. Or how to like treat people.”

    He said his parents’ love that he is getting something out of the experience and being productive.

    “They’re telling me how much I been changing since I been coming here, at least,” Burgess said. “Hearing that coming from my parents, it just means something more.”

    He now has a new focus on the future and the path to get there.

    “I have a purpose in life that’s way bigger than just fighting,” he said.

    Wesley hopes to continue living his dream by having a positive impact and making the community safer for everyone.

    “And I think that’s very important cause that’s our motto: living with a purpose,” he said.

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    Jenna Jordan

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  • ‘Just disappeared’: Police need help closing case of 1977 missing teen

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    FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio — Sometimes the smallest tips can lead to the biggest breaks for investigators working to solve a case. Even one that has gone cold.

    What You Need To Know

    • Fairview Park Police Chief Paul Shepard said he is counting on someone speaking up with information to finally bring Yvonne Reglar’s family answers after she went missing 48 years ago

    • On Aug. 8, 1977, Shepard said the 17-year-old was abducted during a work shift at a gas station on Lorrain Road; she would now be 65 years old

    • The U.S. Marshals Service is assisting with the investigation

    Fairview Park Police Chief Paul Shepard said he is counting on someone speaking up with information to finally bring Yvonne Reglar’s family answers after their loved one went missing nearly 50 years ago.

    “She was a tomboy, played in the band,” Shepard said while flipping through photographs. “Just a decent, good kid.”

    The pictures give a glimpse into Yvonne’s life. At least up until Aug. 8, 1977: the day Shepard said the 17-year-old was abducted during a work shift at a gas station on Lorrain Road.

    “The fact that she wasn’t supposed to be there,” he said. “Two, she had plans that night. We found no indication that she ran away.”

    Shepard said coworkers brought the North Olmsted teen to the Fairview Park service station around 8 a.m. He said she was transferred there to replace the scheduled employee, who was skilled at changing tires and sent to cover a shift at a location with a garage.

    “It was raining that day,” Shepard said. “There were storms, business wasn’t super busy. It was just like, ‘Hey, just go and do it.’”

    Yvonne was the only attendant on duty.

    A photo of Yvonne Reglar as a teen and an age-progressed photo. (Fairview Park Police Department)

    “The other thing is, it’s Fairview Park,” he said. “What could happen to you in Fairview Park?”

    Shepard said Yvonne initialed a receipt around 1:25 that afternoon, but between 1:30 and 2:05 p.m., he said two customers and a coffee machine repair person found the gas station empty. Yvonne’s personal items were still there.

    “Would you leave your purse and all your belongings behind?” Shepard said. “No. You would take something.”

    He said it was only after her shift replacement arrived for work at the empty station around 3 p.m. that Yvonne was reported missing. By that time, it was about an hour and a half after Shepard believes she was either tricked or physically taken.

    “She was taken from the pump,” he said. “There was no DNA. There’s no evidence. Because she would have just been grabbed and put in the car.”

    The disappearance captured newspaper headlines at the time, as her parents asked for answers.

    Peter Elliott said he was a detective at the Higbee’s department store where Yvonne’s mom worked.

    “I can remember that time,” he said. “I can remember the mom and her daughter was missing. Again, I wasn’t in law enforcement at the time, I was in security, so I really didn’t know what was going on.”

    But now as the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, Elliott brings national resources to assist with the investigation into what happened to Yvonne.

    “Not very typical is a serial killer that comes to town and snatches people,” Elliott said. “So typically it’s somebody you know, may know well.”

    Shepard said they look into every lead, as he combed through a box of files to bring out an example. A black-and-white clipping of an advertisement.

    “They thought this model looked like her from a 1970s hair stylist, and they ended up finding out that this was a professional model,” Shepard said, explaining the tip. “But there is some resemblance.”

    The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an updated age progression photo of how Yvonne might look today at age 65.

    Shepard hopes someone recognizes her or remembers something to close a case that generations of Fairview Park officers have worked to solve.

    “This is a young lady that showed up to work, did nothing wrong, she’s missing,” Shepard said. “We owe it to her, her family and the rest of the community to find out what happened to her.”

    He vowed that his department will not stop searching until they find her.

    If you have any information about Yvonne Reglar’s disappearance on Aug. 8, 1977, please call Fairview Park Police at (440) 356-4418 or email chiefofpolice@fairviewparkohio.gov.

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    Jenna Jordan

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  • First responders train with simulated mass-injury event

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio — From festivals to sporting events and even concerts, we host a long list of large-scale events in the Buckeye State, which often draw thousands of fans to enjoy the fun. With so many people at one place at the same time, that raises the risk of an emergency situation or terror attack injuring numerous people at once.

    What You Need To Know

    • A simulated explosion Thursday at the Columbus Fire Training Academy allowed first responders to practice triaging patients at a mass-injury incident

    • OhioHealth emergency medicine residents participated in the training acting as patients

    • The training involved agencies that would already be present at a large-scale event, like fire, police, amateur radio and medical professionals 

    While first responders hope something like that never happens in Ohio, teams practiced assisting patients impacted by a simulated tragedy Thursday at the Columbus Fire Training Academy to be better prepared in case of an actual mass injury incident.

    “When you put it into practice, you realize that the best laid plans, you know, everything needs to be tweaked a little bit and that we need to have different processes and adjust it,” said Dr. Brad Gable, OhioHealth medical director for simulation. “And if we have a chance to practice that before we actually encounter it, that means that our participants and the public are going to be safer as a result.”

    The training allowed first responders to try out a different system of triaging patients, grouping them by color to indicate their priority for treatment based on the extent of their injuries. 

    “They’re actually trialing a slap bracelet system to see if it’s useful and that they don’t fall off,” said Kara Portier, a simulationist with OhioHealth while watching the training. “But they do a very quick assessment of each patient to determine a priority of who needs to be treated first, second, third and so on.”

    For one of their training scenarios, first responders rushed to the scene of a simulated explosion that injured runners and bystanders at a race. OhioHealth emergency medicine residents played the part of injured patients. 

    “Being able to see it from a different perspective, from, you know, the patient side of things really allows them to have some really empathic care for, you know, the patients that we serve,” Gable said.

    A team of simulationists with OhioHealth applied makeup to everyone acting as a patient, including Dr. Winnie Gikunda, who was given fake burns. She was positioned near the explosion site where she waited until first responders arrived to assess her “injuries.”

    “It’s a very surreal feeling, like, ‘Oh, my God, this can happen to me and no one’s there to help me,’” she said. “So that definitely gave me a different perspective.”

    It is an experience she said she will never forget and will keep in mind whenever she is around a big group of people.

    “We hope that it doesn’t happen, but unfortunately it does,” she said. “So, I think the best thing would just… Just be prepared.”

    In addition to OhioHealth physicians, Columbus fire and police, race directors, amateur radio operators, the Red Cross and other agencies participated in the training. Each group would already be on site at a similar event to mitigate any potential safety concerns, and would be able to assist in an emergency.

    “It’s not uncommon to have an event that has four or five, six patients,” said Columbus Division of Fire Medical Director Dr. Robert Lowe. “But obviously once you start moving to 20 and 30 or God forbid, you know, more than that, there’s another level there, right? There’s a level of people needed. There’s a level of skill needed, and there’s a level of coordination needed with all of our health care partners and responding agencies.”

    He said helping as many patients as possible, as quickly as possible, is key, as well as prioritizing care for those with the worst injuries.

    “It’s teaching a framework of how to manage chaos,” Lowe said. “Because the biggest thing in this is not to get overwhelmed, not to get frozen. 

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    Jenna Jordan

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  • Man searches for living kidney donor for second transplant

    Man searches for living kidney donor for second transplant

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio — The National Kidney Foundation calls kidney disease the under-recognized public health crisis. The organization finds kidney disease ranks as the eighth leading cause of death in the United States and claims more lives each year than breast or prostate cancer.

    What You Need To Know

    • Brandon Talley is spreading awareness about kidney disease while searching for a living donor to share the gift of life with him

    • Talley received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor last year, but is now battling a rare kidney disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) that damages the organ’s function, which can lead to kidney failure

    • Talley, who taught for more than 20 years at a Columbus elementary school, was forced to leave his position after his diagnosis. He now educates the community about kidney disease

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in seven adults is living with chronic kidney disease, but 90% of them do not even realize they have it, since symptoms often do not appear until advanced stages.

    Since learning about his own diagnosis, Brandon Talley works to educate others to help them avoid following in his footsteps, while searching for someone willing to help him as a living kidney donor.

    Building muscle is one way the man known in his south Columbus community as “Mr. Talley” keeps us his image.

    “It’s like taking that movie star Hollywood thing and then adapting it to your personal life,” he said.

    Something he said is not accomplished by glitz and glamour, but grit and a grind.

    “I don’t look sick,” Talley said. “I don’t look like I need a transplant. I don’t look like I need help.”

    Talley gains strength to fight for his health inside the Schiller Community Center weight room.

    “I went into dialysis in shape, left dialysis in shape,” he said. “So it was a lot easier for me to get my numbers, get my labs, maintain a steady number of kidney function.”

    His hard work paid off. After three years on dialysis, he received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor last October. But the 45-year-old is now battling a rare kidney disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) that damages the organ’s function, which can lead to kidney failure.

    “Where now the search is looking for a living donor, which will take care of some of those issues that the rejection is having,” Talley said.

    He takes his search outside, walking two laps around Schiller Park. He said he wears several layers to prevent an infection in the second-degree burns he received from shingles. The top layer is always a sweatshirt with a silent plea printed on front and back: Mr. Talley Needs a Kidney. Can You Help? Call (614) 293-6724.

    “This is the number to the actual kidney transplant center here at Ohio State,” he said.

    Steps he takes every day armed with a dozen fliers.

    “I spend all the loose change in my car and in the couch and in my house getting prints of these every day,” he said. “So I try to at least pass out 12 a day.”

    He shares his story in hopes of saving a life.

    “Approaching people, you have to have a certain look about yourself and that’s eye contact and confidence,” Talley said. “Not disappointment. Because some people can say, ‘No.’”

    The father of three shows no signs of stopping. He knows his kids are counting on him regaining his health.

    “My son is kind of like, ‘Dad will be okay,’” Talley said. “He always pulls through. So that’s one of the inspirations and strengths that gets me to keep going.”

    After teaching for more than two decades at Siebert Elementary, Talley’s health forced him to leave. He now spends most of his time raising kidney awareness.

    Some of his family helped set the scene for a recent event.

    “If I can give my cousin a kidney, I’ll give him a kidney,” said Talley’s first cousin Tiquilia McCauley while smoothing out a plastic tablecloth.

    Talley invited his neighbors in the community for some food and education about dialysis and kidney disease from people living through the experience.

    “The physical, the mental, and the spiritual breaking it does to your body,” Talley said about dialysis.

    He introduced one of his former students who at age 22 is now facing a similar struggle.

    “Nobody woulda knew unless I told them,” Tianna Jobe said. “Still today, you probably don’t think I have it, because I look pretty normal.”

    But Jobe said she is in search of a living kidney donor for a transplant. A fate Rebekah Heidell, 16, said is also in her future after inheriting her father’s kidney issues.

    “For me, it’s not very much a daily, like, oh my kidneys hurt, or something,” she said. “It’s more just like living and anticipating. Like, I’m probably gonna have a kidney transplant.”

    Sharing their personal pain in hopes someone will share a piece of themselves and give the gift of life.

    “You never know who you motivate,” Talley said. “Who you meet just by, you know, the journey. The journey is rough and it’s hard, but I’ve come to the agreement with myself to enjoy this journey.”

    To be a living kidney donor, you must be older than 18 and in good health. You can direct your organ to a specific person or help someone you don’t know who’s on the transplant waiting list.

    The process is completely voluntary and you can learn more on the National Kidney Foundation’s website, kidney.org.

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    Jenna Jordan

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