Lay and Nicholas Alan Mattox, 23, of Trenton, were arrested Feb. 5, a day after 32-year-old Amy Risner of Middletown was found dead at an Anne Road house in Monroe, according to police.
Lay was indicted on charges of murder with a specification that a gun was used in the crime, felonious assault and tampering with evidence. Mattox was indicted on two counts of tampering with evidence, both third-degree felonies. Both were initially charged with aggravated murder by Monroe police.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Greg Howard had set bond at $1 million for Lay and $10,000 for Mattox because he’s facing lesser charges.
Mattox, who is free on bond and wearing a GPS monitor, is scheduled to appear in court June 3, according to court documents.
Court records filed in Butler County Area II court said Lay confessed to killing Risner, a mother of three sons.
Police were called shortly before 4 p.m. Feb. 4 on a report of an unresponsive person. Risner was pronounced dead at the scene, and her death was ruled a homicide by the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
The house and Risner had been the subjects of a drug investigation by the Warren County Drug Task Force for months before the homicide, according to court documents.
