Another woman found slain in Chillicothe, Ohio
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- Police say they've made an arrest in connection with the death of a woman who was found dangling by her sleeve from a chain-link fence in a southern Ohio city plagued by missing and murdered women.
Donnie Cochenour Jr. has been charged with murder in the death of the woman whose body was found Tuesday morning in Chillicothe. Police have not released the name of the woman.
Police in Chillicothe have been investigating a string of suspicious deaths and disappearances of local women. Police say there's no evidence to suggest this latest case is connected, but they say they're not ruling it out, reports CBS affiliate WBNS.
Prosecutors say Cochenour, 27, admitted to beating the woman, reports WBNS. Prosecutor Sherri Rutherford said police found blood and mud on Cochenour's clothing Tuesday afternoon, and recovered what they believe to be the instrument used as the murder weapon.
Police say the woman died trying to climb the fence, reports the station. Tips reportedly led police to make an arrest within hours.
"In conversations with police officers, Cochenour admitted to a physical altercation with the woman at or near the place where she was found dead," Rutherford said, reports the station.
Police received a call around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday that shoes, a cell phone, and an I.D. were found on a dead end street. Neighbors who saw the body told the station it looked like the victim had been beaten.
"Her hand was up there like she had been either placed on the fence or smashed into the fence somehow," witness Sasha Taylor told the station. "Her sleeve had gotten caught up there or something, but she had no shoes, nothing. And where I could see you couldn't tell if it was male or female, or what it was. It was just that bad."
A judge set bail for Cochenour at $2 million Wednesday. His family told the station they've been worried about his mental health for years.
Four other women have been found dead near Chillicothe and two others remain missing.
Charlotte Trego, who would be 28, has been gone the longest, missing since her mother dropped her off at an apartment in Chillicothe in early May 2014.
Tameka Lynch, a 30-year-old mother of three, disappeared a couple of weeks later. Her body was found on a sand bar in Paint Creek by a group of kayakers on May 24, 2014, four days after the coroner says she likely died.
The body of Shasta Himelrick, last seen on surveillance video leaving a gas station early on the morning of Dec. 26, 2014, 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, but her family disputes the ruling.
38-year-old Timberly Claytor was found shot to death in nearby Massieville on May 29. 37-year-old Jason McCrary has been charged in her murder.
The body of 26-year-old Tiffany Sayre, missing since early May, was found in neighboring Highland County on June 27 not far from where Lynch's body was recovered. A cause of death hasn't been announced.
Police are also still looking for Wanda Lemons, 38, a mother of five, missing since last fall.
Police have said the women had ties to drugs, and some to prostitution, but they haven't ruled out that the deaths and disappearances could be linked. The cases spurred the creation of a task force including Chillicothe police and the Ross County sheriff's office, the FBI, state investigators and other local law enforcement.