Murder charges in slaying began with rumors
With three MIAMISBURG — murder suspects in custody, it’s unlikely more people will be charged in the Dec. 30 deadly home invasion shooting of a Miamisburg High School senior, police said this week.
Four defendants – including two local men – face charges in the late-night killing of Noah Kinser, 18, who fired shots at the intruders while seeking to defend himself in the city’s first homicide since 2011, Miamisburg Detective Sgt. Jeff Muncy said.
The first suspect in the seven-month probe involving federal and state investigators was indicted in May, while charges against the other three were announced last week.
“At this point we believe we have everybody involved and charged for their involvement,” Muncy said.
“But the investigation – even though charges have been filed and indictments have been out – is still ongoing,” he added. “And there may or may not be other charges in the future ... But we believe we got all of the ones involved.”
Not guilty pleas were entered Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for Dante English, 38 of Cincinnati. He is being held on a $25,000 bond on charges of arson, tampering with evidence and two lesser offenses.
Earlier this week not guilty pleas were entered for Jason B. Churchill, 32 of Moraine, and Daniel M. Simone, 28 of Englewood. Both face murder and multiple other charges, as does Chaz Gillilan, 30 of Coshocton County, the first one charged.
Each murder defendant is being held on a $1 million bond, court records show.
The county coroner ruled Kinser died from a gunshot wound to the chest at his North First Street apartment, about a block from the police department.
Police said Kinser’s girlfriend was also wounded, but recovered. Muncy declined to say at what point the gunfire started or which defendants authorities believe fired shots.
Records indicate an assault rifle and several handguns were found in the vicinity of the apartment, but until this week police had not said if any of those weapons were in Kinser’s possession.
Muncy said the 9 mm shells found with Gillilan’s DNA on them did not come from the gun Kinser fired.
Before the shooting, not all of the defendants knew each other and, initially, police had few leads, Muncy said
“When we initially got the case, we had no clue who had did this,” Muncy said. “And throughout the investigation, we were able to hone in on four individuals.
“When you don’t know who you’re looking for initially, you start out by listening to rumors and everything on social media because a lot of people may have good ideas on who it was,” he added.
“In fact, we started out that way, with some other names and possible” suspects. “And we followed up on all of those leads. Ultimately, the investigation led to the four that we have charged now.”
Five arrests were announced by Miamisburg Police Chief John Sedlak in early January. While Sedlak said information obtained from the Kinser investigation led to those arrests, they were not directly related to the homicide.
Since then, “this investigation has taken us all over Ohio essentially and down in Kentucky” while the families of Kinser and his girlfriend “have been really patient with us,” Muncy said.
“And we’ve tried to keep them in the loop the best we can ... This is a day they have been waiting for.”