Cops: Suspect in slaying admitted role
Bail set at $2 million Monday morning for Michael Strouse.
A LibBUTLER COUNTY — erty Twp. man admitted to police his involvement in the death of a missing West Chester Twp. woman, according to court documents filed just prior to his arraignment Monday.
Investigators say 23-yearold Ellen Weik d ied of asphyxiation at a Liberty Twp. home where the man charged in her death lived. And there was an admission during questioning, according to documents obtained by the Journal-News.
Bail was set at $2 million Monday morning for Michael Strouse, 29, of 6054 Bluffs Drive, during a video arraignment in Butler County Area II Court. Strouse was charged with murder at about 4 a.m. Saturday after a body, believed to be Weik, was found late Friday afternoon in a field off Millikin Road.
Weik, 23, went missing from her West Chester Twp. house on July 29. Her mother reported her missing Aug. 1, according to the missing person’s report.
“Strouse caused the death of Ellen Christine Weik as a proximate result of committing felonious assault,” according to court records. The murder occurred on July 29, according to police.
The murder charge against Strouse “is based on infor- mation obtained through investigation to include electronic evidence, forensic evidence and suspect admission,” according to the court documents.
During Monday’s brief video arraignment, Strouse said he had retained attor- neys to represent him. There were no family members of Weik or Strouse in the courtroom during the arraign- ment.
An autopsy was being per- formed Monday at the Butler County Coroner’s Office, but Administrator Martin Schneider said results many not be released until today.
Butler County Prosecu- tor Michael Gmoser told the Journal-News on Sunday that he is “100 certain” the body found is Weik, a 2013 grad- uate of Lakota East High School.
The prosecutor said it was his decision to charge Strouse with murder early Saturday morning after questioning by police.
“I do not want this fellow out on the street . ... I didn’t want to take any chances,” Gmoser told the Journal-News. He declined to say what statements Strouse made to detectives.
Strouse was convicted in 2015 for public indecency for exposing himself to a woman in the Voice of Amer- ica shopping center. He was placed on one year probation and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow up treatment, according to Butler County court records.
West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said Friday that tips led authorities to the Mil- likin Road location. Owners of the farm property near where the body was found declined to comment over the weekend.
Strouse’s arrest and his past have prompted speculation about the unsolved homicide of a Fairfield woman.
On Monday, law enforce- ment officials involved in the ongoing investigation of the 2011 disappearance and subsequent death of Fairfield’s Katelyn Markham said they have been in contact with West Chester police.
Photos surfaced on social media over the weekend of Markham with Strouse and other people.
Police and volunteers looked for months to find the young woman who vanished during the early morn- ing hours of Aug. 14, 2011, from her Dorshire Drive residence in Fairfield, leaving behind her purse, keys and her dog.
The case gained national attention as days turned into months with no news of Markham’s whereabouts.
Then on April 7, 2013, skeletal remains were found in a remote wooded area in Cedar Grove, Ind. Within days, confirmation came that the remains were Markham’s, and the Franklin County Coroner ruled her death a homicide. However, the exact cause of death could not be determined.
Strouse was an acquaintance of Markham, a 22-yearold art student, Indiana State Police Detective Vance Patton told the Journal-News.
He said Monday that he was aware of Strouse’s arrest but declined to comment further.
A reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Markham’s killer has grown to $100,000 over the years, but despite investigation by multiple law enforcement agencies, her case remains unsolved.