Weeks-long trial more than three years after quadruple homicide ends in hung jury
Gurpreet Singh, now 40, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder for allegedly killing his wife and three other family members at their West Chester Twp. apartment on April 28, 2019. He faces the death penalty if found guilty.
After sitting in the Butler County Jail with no bond for more than 3 years following trial continuances and COVID-19 pandemic delays, Singh got his day in court when his trial began Oct. 4 in Butler County Common Pleas Court. He did not learn his fate.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
With plenty of media attention and a series of interpreters to assure all legal proceedings were understood by the defendant a native of India, the trial continued well into a third week.
Singh and his retained defense team from Rittgers and Rittgers maintained his innocence. At trial, the defense said the killings were part of a professional hit due to Singh’s father-in-law’s financial woes and a dubious land contract deal in India with the “land mafia.” They say three masked men broke into the apartment with baseball bats and Singh ran for his life. When he returned, everyone was dead.
Prosecutors said Singh murdered his family by shooting them all in the head after a longtime affair he was having and a strained relationship with his in-laws over money from land owned in India.
Following two nights of sequestration and hours of deliberation that turned testy with squabbling among jurors, the jury indicated a verdict could not be reached. Judge Greg Howard declared the a mistrial because the jury was hung.
Singh, a former semi truck driver, is accused of shooting and killing his wife Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58.
He remains housed in the Butler County Jail and is scheduled to be back in court on Jan. 11 when a retrial date may be set.
Butler County auditor indicted and found guilty of felony following trial
Roger Reynolds, newly re-elected county auditor, was found guilty of a felony on Dec. 21 following a jury trial in Butler County Common Pleas Court. Eight days later, an interim auditor was appointed by the county commission because Reynolds can no longer hold the position.
The first felony and misdemeanor indictment was handed down by a county grand jury in February and followed a months-long investigation by the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. Those charges accused Reynolds of leveraging his public office to further his own interests and that of his father who owned land on Hamilton-Mason Road in West Chester Twp.
Reynolds was found not guilty of those charges.
The jury found Reynolds guilty of unlawful interest in a public contract, a fourth-degree felony. The charge was part of a superseding indictment returned by a grand jury on July 13.
Reynolds’ felony conviction was related to a suggestion he initially made in 2016 to then-Lakota Local Schools Treasurer Jenni Logan, who testified Reynolds proposed that more than half of the tax money his office returned to the school district could be used to build a year-round golf academy at Four Bridges for use by the Lakota golf teams.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Reynolds lives in Four Bridges in West Chester Twp. After that initial suggestion was basically rejected, he amended the suggestion to Logan, saying $250,000 could be used instead as a yearly access fee for the golf team.
A sentencing has not yet been set for Reynolds. He faces a potential 18-month jail term and up to a $5,000 fine. And he had to give up his elected position.
Man indicted in Okeana neighbor homicide; 911 caller says ‘he thought he was a Democrat’
A Morgan Twp. man remains in the Butler County Jail awaiting trial for allegedly shooting and killing his neighbor in November in Okeana.
Austin Gene Combs, 26, was indicted Nov. 10 by a Butler County grand jury for aggravated murder with a gun specification. He is accused of Anthony Lee King, 43, who was doing yard work at his own residence.
King died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The victim’s wife called 911 and said they were cutting grass and working in the yard when she came inside to let the dog out. That’s when she heard gunshots, she said.
“I look in the backyard and that man is walking away from my husband, and my husband is on the ground,” the woman says “He has come over like four times confronting my husband because he thought he was a Democrat. Why, why … Please, I don’t understand.”
Combs admitted to shooting and killing King in the yard of his Chapel Road residence, according to court documents.
Combs is being held on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to be in Butler County Common Pleas Court Jan. 23.
Deadly Walmart shooting: Butler County man facing aggravated murder charge
A Butler County grand jury indicted a Hamilton man accused of shooting two people, killing a customer who tried to stop the man in late May inside the Walmart on Princeton Road.
Anthony F. Brown, 32, was indicted for aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault and having weapons under disability. The case is assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Dan Haughey.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Brown, of Hensley Avenue, was taken into custody by a SWAT team at Fairfield Inn in Middletown several hours after the May 26 shootings. Police said he was wearing dark clothing and a health safety mask when he ran from the Walmart in Fairfield Twp. after gunfire rang out.
Adam Black, 35, who had recently moved to the area from Columbus, was killed by a gunshot wound. Eric D. Ruff, 57, of Fairfield, was hit by gunfire and survived.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Brown is accused of shooting the two men while trying to steal cell phones, police said. Brown’s attorney is wrangling over competency and sanity issues. He is being held in without bond in scheduled to be back in Butler County Common Pleas Court on Jan. 31.
Man who stole more than $730K from animal shelter sentenced to prison
A Wayne Twp. man who admitted to stealing more than $700,000 from the Animal Friends Humane Society pet shelter in Hamilton while serving as a volunteer treasurer was sentenced to prison in August and ordered to pay restitution.
Jeremy Bruce Taylor, 48, of the 3900 block of Withrow Road, pleaded guilty in June to aggravated theft, a third-degree felony. He faced up to 36 months in prison, and that is what Butler County Common Pleas Judge Greg Stephens gave him.
Taylor was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. He is now housed in the London Correctional Institution. His expected release date is in August 2025.
Two accused in Middletown man’s shooting death and dismemberment
A Middletown woman accused of killing her husband found dismembered in September at their Stone Path Drive home is behind bars awaiting trial along with the man accused of abusing the corpse.
Bonnie Marie Vaughan, 59, is charged with aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse after Jeffrey Fellman was found dead in the garage of the Warren County house on Sept 20. John Havens, 33, is charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Fellman, 55, died of multiple gunshot wounds and the dismemberment was postmortem, according to Warren County Coroner Dr. Russell Uptegrove.
Vaughan and Havens were arraigned by Warren County Common Judge Robert Peeler who continued bond set in the lower court at $1 million for Vaughan and $15,000 for Havens. Both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said the investigation turned up evidence that Vaughan planned to kill Fellman.
The indictment states Vaughan shot Fellman “multiple times” at 6:15 p.m. Sept. 19 and had Havens come over the next day to dismember the body.
Middletown police said Fellman was found dead after Havens came to the police station on the night of Sept. 20 and reported there was a body at the Stone Path residence.
Vaughan was found about two hours later at a gas station at Dixie Highway and Coles Road. There were several guns in the car with her.
Both Vaughan and Havens are scheduled to be back in Warren County Common Pleas Court on Feb. 27.
CRIME & SAFETY REPORT
Sign up for our weekly Crime & Safety Report emails. journal-news.com
About the Author
