News
DeWine Adds Meigs Shooting Death To Unsolved Homocide Initiative
By: WOUB Contributing Writer
Posted on:
As part of his Ohio Unsolved Homicides Initiative, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is asking for information regarding the shooting death of a Dayton man that happened 22 years ago.
Ronald Pohl, 57, was found by a search party in the woods off of Price-Strong Road in Salem Township in Meigs County on May 9, 1992. Pohl, an avid hunter, had travelled from the Dayton area to hunt for turkey when he was killed.
"My dad typically hunted in the Dayton and Fairborn areas, but he made plans with my brother, Mike, to take this trip to Meigs County," said Matthew Pohl. "They went into the woods together that morning, but separated to hunt, and that was the last time my brother saw him."
According to investigators, Pohl's son, who was hunting some distance away on the opposite side of the property, heard a gunshot in the distance between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., followed by three to four more shots approximately fifteen minutes later. After Pohl failed to leave the woods at noon as planned, his son called for help after being unable to find him.
Meigs County Sheriff Keith Wood, who was an Ohio Division of Wildlife Officer in Meigs County at the time, was part of the search party that later located Pohl and discovered that he had been shot with buckshot in the back at close range.
"This is one of those cases that has haunted me through the years, but I still have hope that we will find out what happened. Mr. Pohl's family deserves answers," said Sheriff Wood. "We hope that by shining the spotlight on the case once again that someone will finally step forward and give us the information we need to put the final pieces of this puzzle together."
"My dad has six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren who never had the opportunity to know him," said Matthew Pohl. "We just want to know what happened and why, and we are grateful for any information that anyone can provide."
"It is never too late to tell authorities what you know about any of the unsolved homicides listed in our database," said Attorney General DeWine. "There are too many families with unanswered questions who deserve to know what happened to their loved ones."
Anyone with information on the death of Ronald Pohl should contact the Meigs County Sheriff's Office at 740-992-3371 or online at www.meigssheirff.org/tip.
Those with information on this case or any other unsolved homicide can also contact the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) at 855-BCI-OHIO or submit a tip through the Ohio Attorney General's website.
Attorney General DeWine's Ohio Unsolved Homicides Initiative was developed in September of 2012 in an effort to create a statewide database to include all of the unsolved killings in the state. There are currently 1,850 unsolved homicides listed in the Attorney General's Ohio Unsolved Homicides Database.
The goal of the initiative is to bring widespread visibility to the cases, increase the possibility for tips, and help jurisdictions compare details of unsolved crimes.