Police: Suspect buries man in yard, drunkenly confesses to 911

Jonathan P. Welch told a Marion County 911 operator Tuesday that he had killed a man.

According to Marion Police Chief Bill Collins, police weren’t initially sure whether they should believe Welch, 33, who they said was intoxicated during the call just before 4:30 p.m.

But after visiting Welch’s 800-squarefoot house in the 400 block of Saint Gallen Street, things began to add up.

“You hear this elaborate story from this guy who’s been drinking and he’s going back and forth,” said Collins.

But then Welch showed police the freshly turned flower bed.

Police immediately called the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which unearthed a black plastic garbage container with a duct-taped lid, Collins said.

The can and contents were taken to the Lucas County coroner’s office, where remains inside were identified Thursday as those of Jasper A. Braddy, 33, a Marion resident who had met Welch this year.

Welch had originally called his landlord in Marysville to confess. That call was transferred to Marion police at about the same time that Welch called Marion County 911 to make sure, Collins said.

Welch has been charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, both related to disposing of Braddy’s body.

And prosecutors are expected to file a murder charge now that Welch’s account of shooting Braddy matches the forensic evidence, Collins said.

“We had to see who the victim was and if he had killed the man in the manner in which he said he did,” said Collins.

Welch had lost his job this year as a technician at a brick manufacturing operation in Caledonia in Marion County.

Collins said Braddy and Welch had an argument in May about Welch’s son.

“The guy had upset (Welch) over a comment he made about his 8-yearold son,” said Collins.

Welch had been charged earlier this year with a bond violation in connection with a May incident of child endangering. Police say Welch’s 8-yearold son called 911 in May to report his father unconscious due to an apparent drug overdose. jwoods@dispatch.com @Woodsnight