Post date: Aug 04, 2015 7:56:25 PM
Delaware County Mortician Confesses
Evan J. McCarley, 55, from Delaware county, walked in to Columbus Police Headquarters downtown early Monday morning.
McCarley works at Newcomer Funeral Home on E Dublin Granville Rd and when he walked in to Police Headquarters, he had a story to tell. He advised that he was the one who dumped the bodies in the underground lair that was located by sewer workers last month. He told cops that no he didn't kill them but that the funeral home that he worked for was often charged with disposal of John and Jane Doe's.
A spokesperson from the coroner's office had this to say "We work with many funeral homes across the capital city to dispose of dead bodies. We mainly expect them to keep them in a state that if they needed to be exhumed for possible trials later, we can do that."
"This is tragic that so many people we treated like garbage after they had died. Many of these bodies looks like they could be part of murder investigations. We now have to cross reference all the DNA profiles of these victims to murder cases that we have open."
This is not McCarley's first arrest. He was arrested in 2002 for having sex with a corpse.
And this is also not the first trouble for the funeral home, they were brought under scrutiny in under a previous owner for incorrect body disposal.
for more information on the body recovery efforts, please see page 3b.
Known Kingpin found to be Laundering in Columbus
Marcus Giovanni, a known figure in the Mafia has been at work here in Columbus. He has given to multiple charities over the past month. The charities unfortunately cannot accept this money as it is known to come from illegal sources. A spokesperson from Nehemiah House of Refuge had this to say, "It is with a sad heart that we cannot accept this money . Our goal is to help ex-offenders and veterans get back on their feet. This money could have gone a long way in our community."
Other charities in the area that also benefited or more accurately, were victims of the false hope were the Temple of Faith Food Pantry and the United Young People's Association. They also notified the FBI of the attempted money laundering.
The FBI agent that we spoke to preferred not to have us use their name but they said this about the investigation "Normally, criminals try to hide their tracks better when attempting to launder their money. This was an open and shut case. All the involved charities gave us their books for a complete audit. We had two forensic accountants look over them to verify that there were no other illegal sources of funds. We appreciate these charities full cooperation in investigating this matter."
The FBI advises that Giovanni has murdered multiple people including but not limited to political figures, rival business owners, and other mafioso.
3970 Hours of Energy
Police are searching for the man dubbed the “Energy Drink Addict” after he is accused of stealing more than 100 cases of 5-Hour Energy drinks.
Corey Jay Meadows, 30, has two warrants for his arrest after being accused of stealing more than $1580 worth of 5-Hour Energy. Investigators said he took a total of 103 cases of the supplements from multiple stores in central Ohio.
According to reports, on April 25, 2015 Meadows “cleaned out the entire shelf” of 5-Hour Energy from a West Side Meijer store, stealing 64 assorted cases containing a total of 480 bottles. The total retail value of the stolen merchandise was $972.96.
One on occasion May 5, Meadows entered a Meijer store in northeast Columbus and proceeded to sweep his arm across shelves stocked with 5-Hour Energy drinks, knocking every pack off the shelves and into his cart. He then attempted to bolt out of the store with what was later determined to be 39 cases containing 314 more bottles of the popular energy drink, with a total retail value of $609.61. When confronted, Meadows abandoned the overloaded shopping cart and jumped into a get-away car described as a blue Ford Fiesta.
Meadows also is believed to be connected to another theft of $681.08 of 5-Hour Energy drinks from a Meijer store located in Grove City, Ohio.
“Mr. Meadows has stolen 794 bottles of 5-Hour Energy—or the equivalent of 3970 hours of continuous, instant energy—that we can verify,” said First Assistant City Prosecutor Bill R. Hedrick. “He is either a cog in an organized theft ring or one seriously wired energy drink addict who hasn’t slept in months.”
Deadly Delivery
Just before dusk on Friday night, pizza delivery driver Joey Roslovic loads up for his first delivery.
He’s been driving for Rotolo’s this summer, to help make some extra cash to help pay for college.
"It can be stressful at times, everyone's expecting you to get their pizza there quickly, but I like it,” said Roslovic said.
Roslovic said it’s a simple enough job; drive the car, drop off the pizza, and onto the next stop. He never saw delivering pizzas as a risk.
"It's never gone through my head to be like, worried like that, but once I hear about that you know it'll be in my head for as long as I work. It makes me really nervous,” Roslovic said.
Employees at Rotolo’s know what happened Thursday night to a Papa John’s driver on the East side of town.
Police said James Flannery died when he was shot on Kenaston Drive, outside a vacant home where he was sent to deliver a pizza. Detectives said he was robbed and shot, in an ambush.
Rotolo’s manager Sam Melaragno couldn’t believe it.
"It's petty cash that they're looking for and it just seems kind of extreme for $20,” he said.
Melaragno said his drivers carry no more than $20 on them, because he used to be a driver too.
Now, a manager at the 5th Avenue location, Melargno tries to keep track of his drivers and give them advice before they hit the streets.
"We always encourage them to kind of scope the area out before they exit the car, no matter where they're going. It can happen anywhere and that's the scary part,” Melaragno said.
Roslovic said there isn't much more he can do to protect himself, though now he's more alert and he says he isn't afraid to do his job.
"Now I think maybe I could get like a thing of like pepper spray maybe, just something to defend myself,” Roslovic said.
Shoot and Run
A person was rushed to the hospital after a shooting in west Columbus Saturday morning.
Columbus Police say it happened around midnight. Alphonso Woody, 44, tells officers he was standing on a porch on Fremont Street, near South Hague Avenue, when someone entered the yard and shot him in the stomach.
He was rushed to Mount Carmel West and is expected to recover.
Police have no suspect information. Anyone with knowledge of this shooting should contact Columbus Police.
Can this help find them?
Jeremiah R. Malfroid, 34, of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for production of child pornography.
According to court documents, investigators with the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children task force connected files containing child pornography to Malfroid’s computer. While executing a search warrant and forensic examination of Malfroid’s computer, investigators discovered 281 files of child pornography, 77 of which depicted children who have been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Numerous additional images on Malfroid’s computer depicted Malfroid sexually abusing a female child. It was confirmed that Malfroid had access to the juvenile female between approximately 2007 and 2013, when the child was three to nine years old.
Malfroid was charged by criminal complaint in October 2014 and absconded during the investigation. He turned himself in to local authorities in California in December 2014, after being profiled on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Operation Predator smartphone app. A user-generated Facebook post indicating Malfroid’s fugitive status had been created the same month and shared nearly 200,000 times.
Malfroid pleaded guilty to production of child pornography on April 2, 2015.
Investigators are still piecing together the information from his computer but are hopeful that there will be a lead in the cases of the missing children. Sherry
Grisly Remains
Body recovery continues slowly after the tragic discovery of corpses.
“Most of the scenes have been photographed but because the bodies are badly decomposed normal identification methods are not possible. We are going to do whatever we have to to get these families some closure on their loved ones.”
John Lee, one of the top Forensic Anthropologists today, has been hired to help with the reconstruction of the bodies. Dr. Lee is well known for his work on the OJ Simpson case, JonBenet Ramsey and consulted on the DC Sniper and Vincent Foster cases.
Lee was born in China but fled to Taiwan in 1982 with his family. He has his Phd in biochemistry and came to the US specifically to study Forensic Science.
Not all of his work has been spectacular. He has come under fire for accusations that he tampered with evidence in the Phil Spector case.
Parents and siblings of people who have been missing are flocking to Columbus to deliver personal items of their loved ones to help body identification. Already 50 of the 173 bodies have been identified with the combined efforts of DNA testing and Forensic Anthropology.
Underground Work Continues
Even after the discovery last month of the bodies in the sewers, work continues on the Underground Revitalization Project. The project which is currently scheduled to end in early 2016 will be adjusting the way that rainwater flows under the city.
“A lot of our sewer design is well over 100 years old” one person from Columbus Department of Utilities advised. “Many times we didn’t fix old issues we just put a patch on them. That is why our sewer systems need this.”
The current efforts, to not disturb that criminal investigation, have moved downtown. While this was supposed to be a later portion of the project it is one part that can be completed while the cleanup at the original site continues.
Workers for the Department of Public Utilities are happy to be out of the area where one of their co-workers was killed last month by an unknown danger.
Death of an Icon
On July 6th, Columbus’ oldest Independent movie theatre and draft house caught fire and was destroyed. The fire looks to be suspicious as there were accelerant found at the scene that are beyond the alcohol that was in the building. Fire marshals are still looking for witnesses but no one seemed to see anything and there are no security cameras in the area.
It was located in the heart of Clitonville and featured new movies, classic cinema, and special events. It opened its doors in 1938 and had some issues during the 1950’s where it transitioned to showing soft core porn and then in the 1960’s where it showed art films.
There were rumors that it was haunted by a man in 1930s clothing who was sometimes seen walking past the concession stand or along the screen. He was occasionally spotted in the seats, watching the movie along with everyone else, although he was always gone by the time the credits roll.
The theatre will be missed. The owners do not plan to rebuild.