Agencies to unite on cases of 6 women

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Six women with a lot in common have turned up missing or dead in Ross County in the past year. Now, local police are joining with state and federal authorities to try to figure out what is happening.

Officials on Tuesday announced the creation of a task force linking Chillicothe police with the Ross County sheriff’s office, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the State Highway Patrol and the FBI. Authorities from Scioto County and Columbus, both of which have missing women, have been invited as well.

The expanded investigation came just days after 38-year-old Timberly Claytor was found dead in the weeds near an abandoned building in Massieville, south of Chillicothe. She had been shot three times in the head.

Ross County Sheriff George Lavender said on Tuesday that a suspect in Claytor’s death is being held on unrelated charges. Lavender said blood and a bullet were found in a vehicle parked where the suspect was staying over the weekend. Claytor’s body was found on Friday.

Authorities have not determined whether Claytor’s death is linked to the other cases. In fact, they don’t know whether any of the cases are connected.

“You always look at that possibility,” Lavender said. “We’ve got too many young ladies missing.”

All six of the dead or missing women were known to run in circles where drugs and prostitution were common. They hung out at the same places, Ross County Prosecutor Matthew Schmidt said. Some were friends. Five had children and the sixth was pregnant.

But the deaths have been starkly different. Claytor was shot, while Tameka Lynch, 30, died of a drug overdose and was discovered by kayakers last May on a sandbar in Paint Creek west of Chillicothe.

Shasta Himelrick, 20, was found in January in the Scioto River in a rural part of the county, about a week after she had gone missing. The Ross County coroner ruled her death a suicide by drowning, something that has never sat well with the people who knew her.

Family and friends continue to look for the missing: Charlotte Trego, 28, gone since May of 2014; Wanda Lemons, 38, missing since November; and Tiffany Sayre, 26, last seen on May 11.

Chillicothe Police Chief Keith Washburn said he reached out to the FBI for help last week and beefed up his department’s investigation into the Trego, Lemons and Sayre cases. The task force will throw even more resources at the investigation, Lavender said, including a tip line and a designated office.

“I decided it’s time to amp this up,” Washburn said on Tuesday. “We need to find these women.”

A candlelight vigil planned for Thursday night at the Yoctangee Park Bridge in Chillicothe will remember the missed and the missing.

On Tuesday, as Washburn, Lavender and Schmidt discussed the cases, Angela Robinson stood in the back of the room, wanting her own answers.

A year had passed since she buried her daughter and best friend, Tameka Lynch. She still doesn’t know why Lynch, who was terrified of the water, was out there on that sandbar. Robinson sobbed, barely able to choke out her words.

“I need to know who did this,” she said.