Investigators Release Timeline After Teen Girl's Body Found In Landfill
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Authorities in Ohio released details in the case of a teenager whose body was found in a landfill in Mercer County.
Jacqueline Bacher can't understand why someone would kill her 16-year-old daughter and then dump her body in the trash.
"She was a good girl, a sweet girl, a caring girl, trusting," she said. "That was one of her little downfalls, I used to say, because she was too trusting."
Investigators released a detailed timeline of the crime.
Victim Gina Burger's mother says her daughter left the family's apartment to borrow some tea from a neighbor who lived across the hall, but she never came home.
According to the Youngstown Vindicator, authorities later searched the apartment and found blood splatter on the kitchen wall and a large blood stain on the floor.
Two days later, Burger's body was found in a landfill near Grove City. The site is used to dump trash from neighboring counties and parts of Ohio, including the apartment complex where Burger lived.
Police think 18-year-old Ricki Williams, who was arrested in connection with the crime earlier this week, forced a woman who lived in the apartment that Burger was visiting to help him dispose of Burger's body in a dumpster. That's how it ended up in the landfill.
The woman reportedly told police that Burger was pleading for her life the whole time she was being stabbed.
"He terrorized them both," Mahoning County assistant prosecutor Ken Cardinal said. "He then wielded a knife. He scared her to the point that after the girl was stabbed, he forced her then to help dispose of the body."
The Youngstown Vindicator reports Williams may have carved the words "kill for fun" in a stairwell in that apartment complex. Investigators say he has a criminal past.
"I think we're fortunate we only have one homicide right now, to be honest with you," Austintown, Ohio, police chief Robert Gavalier said.
Burger's mother says Williams knew her daughter. He is facing charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and abusing a corpse. Williams is in jail in Ohio on $750,000 bond.
But for Burger's mother, it's not enough.
"I want the death penalty," she said. "I believe he deserves it after what he did to my little angel."
RELATED LINKS
Police Arrest Murder Suspect Accused Of Stabbing Ohio Girl (7/1/2014)
Body Found At Mercer Co. Landfill IDed As Missing Ohio Teenager (6/27/2014)
More Mercer County News
More Reports By Ralph Iannotti
