CPD Detective: Suspect Made Admissions In Mom’s Slaying

DAYTON, Ohio—A man accused of killing a woman in her home, kidnapping her 4-year-old son and later abandoning the child at a highway rest stop admitted to the crimes, a detective testified Tuesday.

Columbus police detective Tim O’Donnell said Charlie Myers made the admissions during questioning by him and another officer at the FBI office in Columbus in January. O’Donnell did not describe exactly what Myers said.

Montgomery County sheriff’s Detective Brad Daugherty said Myers at first denied being involved in the Jan. 2 killing, but then made the admissions after one of his friends told police that Myers told him he had shot a woman.

The officers testified during a pretrial hearing in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to determine whether statements authorities say Myers made can be used in his trial.

Myers didn’t know the woman, but had stolen a car belonging to the victim’s family in the weeks before the killing. Authorities have said that items in the car identified the family and where they lived and led Myers to their home.

After Myers was arrested and was being taken to jail, he told waiting reporters that he was sorry for the crime and had made a mistake, although he didn’t directly confess to killing the woman.

The 23-year-old Myers has pleaded not guilty.

About a week before Christmas 2008, the 29-year-old victim’s car was stolen from a parking garage at Ohio State University in Columbus, where the boy’s mother and father had attended a rock concert to celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary.

Myers was looking to rob the family’s home, and tied the woman up in the basement, had sexual contact with her 4-year-old son and fatally shot the woman after she broke free and stabbed him, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. has said.

Myers left the boy at a highway rest stop with no coat or shoes, Heck said. Travelers found the boy wandering around and called police.

The Associated Press is not naming the family so as not to identify the victim of an alleged sexual offense.

Earlier Tuesday, Montgomery County sheriff’s Captain David Hale testified that the search of Myers’ home in Columbus revealed a paper with directions to the couple’s Dayton-area home as well as cell phones and a computer that matched descriptions of those owned by the victim’s family.

Defense attorneys say any statements Myers made to officers shouldn’t be allowed in his trial because he wasn’t told he had the right to remain silent or to have an attorney present.

Daugherty said that before the first of three questioning sessions, Myers was told he had the right to remain silent and waived that right, never asked for an attorney, and agreed to answer questions about the slaying. The questioning sessions spanned several hours, going from late on Jan. 4 into the early-morning hours of Jan. 5. O’Donnell said the Miranda warning was not reissued to Myers before the third and final questioning session.

For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail .
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video