GUILTY OH - Stephanie Hummer, 18, Columbus, 6 March 1994

Police made an arrest Wednesday in the 1994 death of a Central Ohio college student.

Officials said Jonathan J. Gravely, 35, was arrested in connection with the death of Stephanie Hummer.

Sources said that Gravely recently pleaded guilty to failure to pay child support, NBC 4 reported.

After his plea, his DNA was taken in accordance with Ohio law. Soon after, the state's DNA database made a match to evidence from Hummer's slaying.
http://www.nbc4i.com/news/6221124/detail.html?rss=col&psp=news

Jonathan J. Gravely, 35, was charged with one count of murder after a state DNA database turned up a match for him, police said.

Sgt. Michael Woods said detectives are interviewing people involved in the case to determine if Gravely will face more charges in Stephanie Hummer's death.

Hummer, a freshman from suburban Cincinnati, disappeared March 6, 1994. Police said she was likely abducted around 3:30 a.m. walking to a friend's house near the campus.

Her body was found about 10 hours later in a field. She had been raped and died of a blow to the head.

Gravely's DNA was on file in the database because of a prior arrest he had for failure to pay child support. His DNA was collected and added to the database last June, Woods said.

Hundreds of people have been questioned since the slaying, and DNA testing ruled out several suspects.
http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=4380342&nav=Lrzs

I thought this case was interesting, partly because of how he got caught. LOL, he didn't pay his child support, which resulted in an arrest and his DNA being taken. That led to the match.
But I also had another reason.
There are a number of missing females and murdered women in the Columbus, Ohio area. Some of the women are listed in the Julie Popovich forum.
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=944883#post944883
Any thoughts on the crimes being related?

Arrest made in '94 slaying
Stephanie Hummer was killed near OSU campus

FINNEYTOWN - Family and friends of a slain Ohio State University student have gotten the news that they have waited nearly 12 years to hear: Someone has been charged with killing Stephanie Hummer.

Police on Wednesday arrested 35-year-old Jonathan J. Gravely of Columbus after tracking him down at his job. Gravely was arrested after a DNA match through Ohio's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, pointed to him, police said.

Gravely's DNA was in the database because of an earlier arrest for failure to pay child support.

Until this week, his name had never come up in the in the investigation. Hundreds of others had been questioned over the years.

More: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/NEWS01/301180018/-1/rss

mysteriew said:

I thought this case was interesting, partly because of how he got caught. LOL, he didn't pay his child support, which resulted in an arrest and his DNA being taken. That led to the match.
But I also had another reason.
There are a number of missing females and murdered women in the Columbus, Ohio area. Some of the women are listed in the Julie Popovich forum.
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=944883#post944883
Any thoughts on the crimes being related?

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I hope they run his DNA against the victims' and the DNA on the scenes of these recent murders, such as Julie Popovich, to see if he might've been involved. You never know.

He's not on the National SO database.

From the Enquirer that PM posted:

Police found Gravely at a labor pool site Wednesday, and during questioning he admitted to some involvement in the case, police said. He was charged with one count of murder, and is expected to be arraigned today in Franklin County.

snip: Aside from the nonsupport case and some drinking and driving arrests, Gravely has no record of violent offenses, Woods said. Police said it didn't appear he was on the run the past 12 years.

"He probably thought that after 12 years he was clear," Woods said.

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The Hummers say police told them Gravely confessed to the crime.

Gravely was arrested at his job at a chemical plant in the Franklinton section of Columbus.
http://www.wkrc.com/breaking/story.aspx?content_id=6A96F58F-C85F-4604-8320-CB800A07FEA6

I wonder if he worked second shift?

Without DNA evidence, the 12-year-old slaying of Stephanie Hummer would remain shrouded in mystery, Clarence Elkins would still be in prison, and John G. Spirko Jr. would be dead.

DNA is not CSI, it’s real life.

Each test costs taxpayers about $1,500.

Attorney General Jim Petro wants the law renewed, this time without a sunset date.

Petro said he’d like lawmakers to debate whether to require DNA samples of people convicted of misdemeanors, likening the biological test to a simple fingerprint.

"I think it’s an option worth investigating," Petro said. "We are now at all felonies and sexually oriented misdemeanors, serious misdemeanors. We take fingerprints of all people arrested."

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/20/20060120-A1-05.html

Slaying suspect a high-school star

The 35-year-old Columbus man jailed here on $1 billion bond went from high school track star to multiple offender involving drugs, alcohol and weapons.

Now, a DNA test makes him the prime suspect in the 1994 abduction, rape and murder of Ohio State University freshman Stephanie Hummer, 18, of Finneytown.

Jonathan J. Gravely, a 6-foot 1-inch, 220-pound sprinter on the Whetstone High School track team, graduated from the Columbus public school in 1989.

Police arrested him Wednesday at a warehouse where he was working as a temporary laborer.

During questioning, police said he made a statement about the killing.

Robert J. Beck Jr., his public defender, told a judge Thursday he might move to suppress that statement.

Police said it was a confession.

According to court records, Gravely had 17 prior arrests in Franklin County from 1992 to 2001, mostly related to drug and alcohol use, driving violations and one weapons charge.

He also was charged with reckless operation of a vehicle just 20 days after Hummer's disappearance.

One thing is known about Gravely: He was an athlete and still holds the Whetstone High boys' track team records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Gravely apparently tied another local record here Thursday - in court.

"With the murder allegations, the possibility of a death penalty specification, the alleged defendant having been able to elude law enforcement for 12 years, I felt a bond that was substantial was appropriate," Franklin County Municipal Judge Scott VanDerKarr said.

VanDerKarr set a $1 billion bond once before, in the case of a prostitution ring involving defendants who had foreign contacts with access to substantial amounts of money, he said.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/NEWS01/601200407/1056

Stacey Beth Colbert, 22 disappeared from her apt. on 032298, body was found in Dec. 2004. Her skeleton was found buried under a mound of tree limbs and other debris in a cornfield in northern Delaware County.
LE believes she may have known her attacker?
http://www.charleyproject.org/resolved/resolved2.html

http://staceybethcolbert.com/search.htm

Kelli Ann Gilliard
Went missing 12022004. Age 17. Classified Runaway. I haven't found the circumstances of her disappearance yet.
Never found.

http://www.findmissingkids.com/ohiomissinggillilandk.htm

According to this, she is believed to still be in the Columbus area. She would be an adult now.
http://www.angelsmissing.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2624&mode=threaded

Mia Losey, 20

Losey's mother said that at about 7 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2002, Losey left her family's home. She said Losey went to a club on West Broad Street, then known at El Grotto's, where she worked as a dancer.
http://www.nbc4i.com/news/4985704/detail.html

Body never found.

Patricia (Patti) Ann Adkins was last seen on June 29, 2001 at Honda of America Mfg., Inc., Marysville Automotive Plant, at the end of 2nd shift.

Patti was to leave on a week long vacation with a male co-worker. The co-worker was contacted and it was discovered that he never left town and had no plans to do so.
http://www.rinokids.com/Adults/Adkins/

Ashley Lyn Howley
Missing since June 16, 2004
Classified as endangered missing.


Howley dances under the stage name Skyy. Some agencies spell her middle name "Lynn."
Medical Conditions: Howley was allegedly abusing cocaine prior to her disappearance.

Howley moved to Columbus, Ohio from her home in Michigan in 2002 and got a job as an exotic dancer at the Dockside Dolls club in the 2200 block of east Dublin-Granville Road. Her friends report that she began using cocaine after taking the job and that her live-in boyfriend was abusing her.

At 3:13 a.m. June 16, 2004, Howley called the police to say her boyfriend had hit her on the head, choked her, and threatened to kill her. She refused medical treatment. This was the last confirmed time she has been heard from. The car she had been driving, a gold 1995 Pontiac Bonneville with Ohio license plates numbered ER94JA, which belonged to one of her friends, disappeared with her.

This information has not been confirmed. Howley's boyfriend is the prime suspect in her disappearance. He was on probation at the time of her disappearance but the probation was revoked in October 2004 because he had not attended counseling, had tested positive for cocaine, and there was evidence that he assaulted Howley the day she vanished.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howley_ashley.html

The fiance of accused killer Jonathan J. Gravely defended her live-in boyfriend today, saying he only admits to having sex with Stephanie Hummer in the early morning hours before her murder.

Shay Fontes, 35, of Piedmont Road on Columbus’ northeast side, said that contrary to what prosecutors said when Gravely was arraigned in Franklin County Municipal Court Thursday, Gravely never confessed to killing the 18-year-old Ohio State University freshman from Finneytown in March 1994.

Fontes said Gravely told her and police that he had sex with Hummer, hence the match to his DNA -- taken in June because of his felony conviction for failing to pay child support.

Asked why Gravely never came forward during the nearly 12 years since the murder, Fontes said, “I don’t know.’’

“Jon is a good person. Anyone that knows Jon, he’s never raised his voice at me, or anyone. He’s not that type of person,’’ Fontes said. ’’I feel so bad for her family, and I know it looks bad because of the DNA, but this is one of those cases where I am confident that it’s going to turn around. I know it looks horrible right now. Just because he had sex with her doesn’t mean he’s guilty of killing her.’’

Fontes and her four daughters have lived with Gravely, 35, for four years. “He’s helped me raise and take care of them. He has always been good to my kids…They love him,’’ she said of her four teenagers. She said Gravely also has a son by a prior relationship.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/NEWS01/301200011/1056/rss02

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/ohio/news/13669226.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

This has become the standard tactic when a suspect's DNA is found on the victim. He claims to have had consensual sex with the victim. A decade ago, defense lawyers would challenge the accuracy of the DNA tests. Now, the defense claims consensual sex.

The suspect is apparently going to claim that he met Stephanie Hummer around 3:30 am, and had sex with her. She then was "killed by someone else." However, there may be a plea bargain where the suspect pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty.

Yeah, and that is why he 'fessed up to the sex part as soon as LE asked. Once he found out that they had DNA. He knew that they could prove the sex.. But he is going to make them prove the murder. His DNA had been taken a number of months prior, so he had plenty of time to consider the fact that it might connect up with Samantha and to think up a story.

Questions to ponder:
How many girls would meet up with a stranger at 3 am, on the street, go to have sex with him, and not tell anyone where she was going, when she was with a group of friends?
How many men would meet up with a girl at 3 am, on the street, have sex with her, and still remember her name over a decade later? (let's say if nothing unusual happened, like the girl dying or anything)?

Notice how the gf is referring to "he had sex with her"? Not he raped her. He had sex with her. But he is a real good guy!

Jonathan J. Gravely was arrested and charged this week with killing Ohio State freshman Stephanie Hummer of Finneytown 12 years ago.

"It's rare if somebody rapes and kills and it's their first and last crime," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.

"As the days turned into a year and then a decade, the family knew that no good detective work would ever be enough," said Sue Hummer, Stephanie's mother. "It had to be DNA that was going to solve the case because there was nothing else."
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060122/NEWS01/601220356

Interesting discussion of Ohio and Kentucky DNA databases.

So he basically admits now to being the last known person to have seen her alive? Since he remembers her name and was so intimate with her (on a consensual basis of course), didn't it occur to him to contact the police with his concern when he heard that she was murdered?

Hopefully police are running his DNA against any and all unsolved murders and rapes. Also, checking into every trip he has made in the past 20 years.

“Jon is a good person. Anyone that knows Jon, he’s never raised his voice at me, or anyone. He’s not that type of person,’’ Fontes said. ’’I feel so bad for her family, and I know it looks bad because of the DNA, but this is one of those cases where I am confident that it’s going to turn around. I know it looks horrible right now. Just because he had sex with her doesn’t mean he’s guilty of killing her.’’

Fontes and her four daughters have lived with Gravely, 35, for four years. “He’s helped me raise and take care of them. He has always been good to my kids…They love him,’’ she said of her four teenagers. She said Gravely also has a son by a prior relationship.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/NEWS01/301200011/1056/rss02

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/ohio/news/13669226.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

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I'm wondering what the four teenage daughters have to say now....

I hate the "but he's such a nice guy" refrain!

From September 2007:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2007/09/21/gravely.ART_ART_09-21-07_A1_GP7VF9R.html

More than 13 years after crushing the skull of OSU freshman Stephanie Hummer, her killer pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated murder and kidnapping charges.

Jonathan Gravely, 37, will serve 25 years to life in prison, but he could be eligible for parole in less than 18 years, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said.

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