Skeletal remains found in car pulled from river

Police say a car containing skeletal remains has been pulled from the Ohio River.

Aberdeen police Chief David Benjamin said it isn’t clear whether the remains found Wednesday are human, but they will be analyzed. Authorities say the vehicle likely was in the river for years.

A fisherman told police his depth finder made him suspect a vehicle was submerged in the area of a boat ramp in the village roughly 60 miles southeast of Cincinnati. Police haven’t released information on the year and model of the vehicle.

Authorities said Thursday that the FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Benjamin said divers also found a second vehicle, which contained no remains. He said there didn’t appear to be a connection between the two vehicles. prison.

Forty-nine-yearold Donte Conard, of Ashtabula, was sentenced Thursday. He pleaded no contest in April to four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and to driving under the influence. It was Conard’s fifth drunken driving conviction.

Killed last October in Ashtabula were 18-year-old Giovanni Miller, 19-year-old Anastasia Smith, 22-month-old Giovanni Miller Jr. and 47-year-old Michelle Hommes, all of Ashtabula. They died at the scene. Conard had minor injuries.

Conard tearfully apologized in court Thursday and asked the victims’ families to forgive him. for the men’s claims has expired. A federal judge has referred those cases to mediation.

The recent lawsuits could be consolidated with the earlier ones.

Ohio State spokesman Ben Johnson referred to previous comments by Ohio State President Michael V. Drake. Drake and other university officials have apologized to Strauss’ victims, calling his prolonged abuse “institutional failure.”

The university also is covering the cost of counseling services for students impacted by Strauss. Late last month, university officials announced a task force to address sexual abuse on college campuses.