Friday, August 28, 1998
Three Greater Cincinnati men face murder and kidnapping charges in the death of an Owen County man whose dismembered body was found in Arkansas.
Officers from Cincinnati's Violent Crimes Task Force arrested Travis Dale Gray, 43, of Green Township, early Thursday. They already had Kenneth J. Bedford, 31, of Norwood in jail by then, having arrested him Wednesday night. A third man, Michael J. Robinson, 28, of Fairfield, was already in jail, too, in Clermont County on unrelated charges. All three are charged with murder and kidnapping in the killing of Jeffery Smith, a 30-year-old man from the Owenton area who disappeared May 18. His body was found in Arkansas on May 23 and was identified last week.
Mr. Robinson remained jailed in Batavia on Thursday, while the other men were behind bars at the Hamilton County Justice Center. The process was under way for them to be extradited to Kentucky so they can be prosecuted in Owen County.
