5 indicted in drug case that includes 3 deaths
Five men have been indicted in federal court in Columbus in connection with a larger drug case that included the murders of three people, including two whose dismembered bodies were found buried in concrete in the basement of a Sullivant Avenue house earlier this year.
Larry Williams Jr., 40, formerly of the Soutwest Side; Kyle Castle, 29, of the South Side; Jesse Climer, 30, and Brian Muncy, 23, both of Ashvill in Pickaway County; and Durone Ellis, 34, of the Deshler Park neighborhood on the South Side, face a variety of charges for involvement in an alleged drug operation that included an attempted armed robbery and three shooting deaths.
Williams, Climer, Muncy and Ellis were in custody Thursday, while investigators were searching for Castle.
Partially dismembered human remains were found in January underneath concrete in the basement of a house in the 2300 block of Sullivant Avenue following a warrant search executed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Columbus Division of Police, Franklin County Sheriff’s office, Columbus Fire Division and others also were involved in the investigation.
A subsequent autopsy identified the bodies as Tera Pennington, 48, of the South Side, and Henry Watson, 52, of the West Side, who were reported missing in August 2018.
In the federal indictment unsealed Thursday, investigators allege Williams killed Connor Reynolds, 23, of Grove City, in June 2018 during an armed robbery of another individual at a home where Reynolds was staying. Two months later, Williams allegedly killed Watson and Pennington in an effort to cover up Reynolds’ murder.
Investigators say Williams and others further hid their crimes by destroying a firearm; using bleach and chemicals to clean a Stevens Avenue crime scene; and dismembering, moving and burying the bodies of Watson and Pennington in concrete at the Sullivant Avenue home, according to documents.
Williams faces a 17-count indictment that includes murder, obstruction, conspiracy and other counts. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Of the others indicted Thursday:
h Castle and Climer face counts of murder, robbery and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
h Muncy faces counts of robbery and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances;
h Ellis faces counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin.
Four other defendants have been charged for their involvement in dismembering, moving and burying the bodies of the murder victims: Patrick Foster, Eric Linley, Phillip Trent and Charles Koon.
Linley, Trent and Koon have already pleaded guilty to being accessories after the fact to murder. According to a statement of facts attached to Koon’s plea agreement, he and Linley and Trent carried “the bodies of a man and woman from the back of Eric Linley’s van into the back of 2448 Sullivant Avenue … then down the stairs into the basement of this residence,” which was being rented by Foster.
Four additional people were charged with drug crimes related to the larger case. Stephanie Bouphavong, Lashawn White, Jeffrey Mason Ford and Richard Rodger have already pleaded guilty.
The ages and addresses of the four defendants charged in the abuse of the corpses and four others charged with the drug crimes were not immediately available from the U.S. Attorney’s office
mkovac@dispatch.com