MIAMI TOWNSHIP, OH (WXIX) – Twelve years after a Marine veteran and devoted bike owner was shot to loss of life inside his own residence, his homicide stays unsolved.
Greater than a decade later, Miami Township Police investigators are hoping somebody has the knowledge they should clear up Paul Leiter’s case.
The investigation started in 2013 when police have been despatched to a house on Pinebluff Drive.
Lt. Greg Jenkins believes somebody went to Leiter’s house Feb. 11, 2013 and shot and killed him round 8 p.m.
“The sufferer was both asleep or peacefully watching TV. He was shot by means of a window. There have been a number of photographs by means of the window – one among which was deadly,” Lt. Jenkins stated.
Round 6 a.m. the subsequent day, Leiter’s spouse, Ann Abele, known as 911 to report that she had discovered her husband useless:
“It appears to be like like my husband is useless in a chair. It appears to be like like he bought shot by means of a window… Anyone was capturing within the yard or one thing ‘trigger I haven’t touched the blinds. I’ve not opened it, however I can inform there’s two photographs coming from, or perhaps extra, perhaps 5,” Abele informed dispatchers that day. “Oh my God. I even know when this occurred. It was earlier than that point – it was at like 8:07 final night time as a result of I had gone to mattress, and I heard 4, like bang, bang, bang, bang, and I simply thought he was within the basement, working and banging on the pipes or one thing.”
In line with Lt. Jenkins, it was commonplace for neighbors to listen to gunshots in that space.
“The neighbors have been type of resistant to that as a result of over the hill from the sufferer’s residence was a pseudo capturing vary,” he stated.
State investigators and native detectives spent about 33 hours gathering proof at Leiter’s home.
Solely days after Leiter’s homicide, police shared a sketch with the general public. It was a drawing of an unknown man who has been described as an individual of curiosity.
“The particular person within the sketch was seen within the neighborhood strolling towards the sufferer’s home across the time the photographs have been fired, and in keeping with two of the witnesses that have been neighbors, they’d by no means seen that particular person earlier than,” Lt. Jenkins stated.
Regardless of the detailed sketch, even now, years later, police can not say with certainty who that man was.
Nonetheless, he was not their solely potential lead. Investigators say witnesses additionally noticed a white van, possible a Chevy Astro or Plymouth, parked in Leiter‘s neighborhood across the time of his homicide.
Though that info has not led to an arrest, they’ve appeared into different potential suspects.
“His [Leiter’s] spouse was a board of pharmacy worker on the time who carried out investigations into alleged unlawful acts dedicated by pharmacists or medical doctors or anybody of that kind,” Lt. Jenkins stated. “There was focus on a variety of circumstances that his [Leiter’s] spouse had labored on the time.”
The investigation led police to a person named Michael Krusling, who had operated Mike’s Batavia Pharmacy.
Data present the Ohio Board of Pharmacy completely revoked Krusling’s license in 2011, after Leiter’s spouse investigated him and located that he had been forging prescriptions and illegally promoting medication.
After Leiter’s homicide, police detectives stated they bought a warrant to go looking Krusling’s house. It’s not clear what they discovered through the search. They did share that in the future after they executed the search warrant, Feb. 16, 2013, Krusling died by suicide.
Detectives publicly cleared Krusling in 2014, however Lt. Jenkins stated Krusling, who may have been motivated by retaliation, stays on his radar as an individual of curiosity.
“In earlier years, some detectives who’ve labored on this case have discounted this principle, and I don’t imagine there’s sufficient proof to low cost any theories or any beliefs about what occurred on this case,” he stated.
At this level, Lt. Jenkins says he has not dominated anybody out, together with these closest to Leiter, like his spouse, Ann Abele.
“In conditions like this, clearly the partner is often thought-about the primary suspect, and the job of investigators can be to research that facet of it, to both clear or embrace that particular person,” he stated. “I might say that she [Abele] remains to be thought-about an individual of curiosity on this case.”
For Leiter’s buddies, like Jay Allred, who knew Leiter by means of biking, and Jonathan Eilert, the pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, which Leiter attended, it’s obscure why one thing so terrible occurred to an individual like Leiter.
“Veteran, group member, churchgoer, lively in his group, nice buddy, nice husband, nice member of the family. If you happen to’re dwelling your life that means, you don’t deserve to finish it the way in which that his ended,” Allred stated.
Detectives don’t imagine Leiter, who earlier than transferring to Clermont County had lived in northern Ohio, had any enemies.
The 65-year-old was recognized for his devotion and dedication, and he even put his ardour to the pedal after he retired, when he spent months biking throughout the nation.
“It simply was an ideal instance of his adventuresome spirit and his willingness to place himself on the market on the earth in a means that he bought one thing out of it, however then the world bought one thing out of him too,” Allred stated.
Leiter documented his whole biking journey, in hopes of later sharing his experiences with the world.
Abele, as his widow, fulfilled that dream when she pieced collectively Leiter’s phrases and photographs in a memoir that she has since shared with others.
“You look by means of the ebook, and also you see photos of people who he would meet in a small city, that he would have nice conversations with, share a meal with,” Pastor Eilert stated. “For him, these are the tales that he got here again [from the trip] speaking about and what he was so enthusiastic about.”
It’s these particulars about Leiter’s character, together with the proof, that Lt. Jenkins believes level to 2 important theories within the case.
“There may be one principle that it was a focused assault, after which there’s one other that it was not focused, that it was act to trigger worry to anybody that was inside the home,” he stated. “It may’ve been simply that somebody was capturing by means of that window, after which the subsequent query can be why did they decide that window? Properly, that window was the bottom window compared to the remainder of the home windows in the home.”
Leiter’s buddies have their very own suspicions, though they know hypothesis is not going to clear up the case.
They as an alternative spend their vitality remembering and honoring the lifetime of Leiter, a person they cherished and misplaced far too quickly.
“I miss him on a regular basis as a result of he was simply such a pleasure to be round and such an amazing affect on everybody that he was round,” Allred stated. “We felt like we have been unplugged from {an electrical} mild socket that gave us vitality, and it deserves some closure.”
The day Leiter was found useless, he was planning to participate in a chili cook-off at his church, a testomony to his dedication to the group.
“Typically it’s when persons are probably the most energetic, and Paul was a type of individuals who was so energetic, that it makes it much more surprising that they’re not right here,” Eilert stated.
FOX19 NOW reached out to Abele by means of a household buddy to see if she would need to discuss Leiter or his case, however haven’t heard from her.
Lt. Jenkins stated he’s hoping to talk together with her once more too.
Anybody with info on Leiter’s homicide is requested to name Miami Township Police at (513) 248-3721.
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