(Chillicothe) -- Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost visited Ross County Sheriff George W. Lavender Jr. to discuss two attacks just outside Chillicothe this week that left three people dead and a fourth critically injured.
Crime scene investigators from the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) were on-scene to assist Lavender’s office with the case within hours of the victims being found on Monday.
“Law enforcement happens on the ground at the local level,” said Attorney General Yost. “It’s the county prosecutor, the county sheriff, the local chief of police. BCI’s role - and the attorney general’s role - is to assist our local partners in law enforcement to make Ohio safe, to protect our neighborhoods and our cities. I wanted to talk to the sheriff about the kinds of assistance he needed. I got a much deeper understanding of what the case looks like. We’re here to make sure the sheriff and the prosecutor get what they need.”
The homicides occurred in the Londonderry area just outside Chillicothe. The deceased victims - 46 year-old Leann Potts, 63 year-old Thomas Littler and 50 year-old Rick Adams - suffered gunshot wounds and other injuries. The fourth victim remains hospitalized.
“When we saw the personnel he sent here and the BCI management and leadership he sent here … we haven’t seen that too often,” said Sheriff Lavender. “It’s overwhelming when a small agency has a situation like this one, so the agents coming in from BCI is a tremendous help.”
BCI Superintendent Joe Morbitzer and the attorney general’s Director of Law Enforcement, Mark Porter, joined local investigators at the two crime scenes on Monday. On Thursday, Attorney General Yost accompanied Sheriff Lavender to the initial crime scene on Vigo Road. Yost and Lavender discussed the types of vital assistance that BCI agents were able to provide.
BCI has provided crime scene processing assistance to the Ross County Sheriff’s Office as the case has unfolded this week. BCI will continue to support the investigators as the case progresses.