Clues sought after 6 women vanish in Ohio

Community, families fear serial killer

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The fate of six women — four of them dead, two missing — has people on edge in this small southern Ohio city as relatives seek clues, seemingly in vain, to whatever happened to their loved ones.

Grieving family members and nervous residents worry about a serial killer in their midst. Police say they aren’t ruling anything out, but say it’s more likely the women’s troubled histories caught up with them in deadly ways. All were drug addicts and some had prostituted themselves.

Police also say that because the women ran in the same circles, someone knows the fuller story. “There’s that one person out there that has the information that’s going to break this case,” said Chillicothe police Officer Bud Lytle.

Charlotte Trego, who would be 28, has been missing since her mother dropped her off at an apartment in Chillicothe in early May 2014. She was into drugs and may have turned to prostitution to support her habit, said her mother, Yvonne Boggs.

Tameka Lynch, 30, disappeared two weeks later. Her body was found on a sand bar in Paint Creek on May 24, 2014, four days after the coroner says she likely died. Lynch, a mother of three, was scared of water and wouldn’t have gone anywhere near a river, said her mother, Angela Robinson.

The body of Shasta Himelrick, last seen on surveillance video leaving a gas station on Dec. 26, was found in the Scioto River on Jan. 2. She was pregnant and had traces of painkillers and cocaine in her system. The coroner ruled her death a suicide.

Timberly Claytor, 38, was found shot to death in Massieville on May 29. A suspect is in custody on unrelated charges.

The body of Tiffany Sayre, 26, missing since early May, was found in neighboring Highland County on June 27. A cause of death hasn’t been announced.

Police are still looking for Wanda Lemons, 38, a mother of five, missing since last fall.

“Things like this happen all over,” said city councilman Dustin Proehl. “But when it happens in a small community that’s so tight-knit like we are, it’s happening to somebody’s brother, sister, cousin, co-worker. We’re all so close.”