BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Freddie Scott Furnish, accused of killing a woman during a burglary at her Crestview Hills home last week, apparently met her when he cleaned her carpets, authorities said Tuesday.
"He had worked at a company that had done some work at the (Ramona Jean) Williamson residence about a month or so ago, which indicated that he was familiar with the residence," said Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Don Buring.
Mr. Buring confirmed that the 30-year-old Covington man had worked for a carpet company, but he would not elaborate.
On Tuesday, Mr. Furnish waived his right to a bond hearing. Kenton District Judge Frank Trusty ordered that he continue to be held without bond. His next court appearance will be July 7.
Mr. Buring has said his office plans to seek the death penalty. On Monday, Covington police had said they were looking for possible links to the Nov. 25 death of Doris Bertsch, but added they did not consider Mr. Furnish a suspect in that case. They said they were still awaiting analysis of evidence sent to the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
On Tuesday, authorities referred all questions on the two cases to Mr. Buring.
Like Mrs. Williamson, Mrs. Bertsch, 70, was an older woman who was killed when she surprised a burglar at her home. Mrs. Bertsch lived in Covington's Kenton Hills neighborhood, while Mrs. Williamson, 66, lived in the Lookout Farm subdivision of Crestview Hills.
"Obviously, when you get into a situation of a woman home alone in an upscale, middle-class neighborhood, one thing that hits you is, "Gee, are they related?' " Mr. Buring said. "It's natural to look at him as a possible suspect (in the Bertsch murder) in light of the natural similarities."
Mr. Buring would not divulge what prompted authorities to arrest Mr. Furnish on Sunday and charge him with murder and first-degree burglary in Mrs. Williamson's death.
A housekeeper discovered Mrs. Williamson's body in the bathtub of her Calumet Court home just after 1 p.m. Thursday.
Kenton County Coroner David Suetholz said she died from suffocation. "She had some abrasions around her face and mouth from probably having had some blunt trauma," Dr. Suetholz said.
Jail records show Mr. Furnish was convicted of second-degree burglary and sentenced to the state corrections facility in LaGrange, Ky. He escaped in 1989, was recaptured and was charged with second-degree escape.
Mr. Furnish also was twice charged with parole violation, in 1993 and 1995, and he was found guilty of third-degree assault in 1996, according to court records.
A longtime neighbor of the Furnish family said she was saddened by the allegations against the man she knew as "Little Freddie."
"He was always a nice kid who never bothered anybody," said Emma Gieske of Forest Avenue. "His whole family's just real nice people. I just feel sorry for them right now."
