BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON - In a few days, 17 of Diane Washer's bones will be returned to her family, nearly five years after she disappeared.
She will be buried. Her relatives will grieve. But the case isn't over for them.
Larry Ray Freeman, 27, is behind bars on a manslaughter charge after telling police he buried Mrs. Washer along Gunpowder Creek. He said she died when he wrecked the car the two were riding in after a night of drinking.
But her sister and daughter say they need to know more.
"Seventeen bones. It's not very helpful knowing she's scattered all over the road somewhere," said Joy Spry, Mrs. Washer's sister. "I would like to have more than we have."
Mr. Freeman pleaded not guilty Friday in Boone District Court and is being held at the Boone County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Police are investigating Mr. Freeman's story.
His statement and investigations by the Boone County Sheriff and Covington Police tell a bizarre tale with all the twists, turns and coincidences of a whodunit:
"I thought maybe with him behind bars I would get a break. I don't feel any relief," Ms. Spry said. "It's been like a constant battle. An everyday thing from the minute your eyes open. It's been crazy. . . . You want to know what happened."
On July 15, 1994, Mrs. Washer, 39, received a $10,000 Social Security check in a disability settlement. She was living on Maryland Avenue in Covington with her husband, James.
She deposited the check in a joint account and later moved the money into an account under her name. Five days later, on July 20, Mrs. Washer and her husband had a domestic dispute. They went to a Covington bar and later ended up at a Sunoco station at 13th and Madison in Covington.
Mrs. Washer called police from the gas station. When police arrived at 12:10 a.m. Mr. Washer was gone. Mrs. Washer did not return to her apartment, going instead to another bar on Madison Avenue. Mrs. Washer, who was very intoxicated, arrived at the bar at last call. She met Larry Freeman. They bought a case of beer and got into his car.
Mr. Freeman told police he was on a three-day drunk when he met Mrs. Washer. The two drove into rural Boone County, drinking, smoking pot and taking pills, he said.
Mr. Freeman said he blacked out, gaining consciousness when the car crashed. He saw Mrs. Washer fly out the passenger side door. When he got out of the car her head was bleeding.
She was dead.
Mr. Freeman dragged Mrs. Washer's body to Gunpowder Creek, not far from Dale Williamson Road. In an area covered with heavy brush, Mr. Freeman covered Mrs. Washer's body with rocks.
Then he went to his mother's house and drank some more.
"When he woke up he tried to determine if what happened was real or a dream," Boone Sheriff's Deputy Todd Kenner said. "He returned to Big Jimmy Hill, where he left her."
Mr. Freeman took Mrs. Washer's purse and a bloody shirt from the scene and burned them.
His family knew nothing about what happened. Mrs. Washer's family wondered where she was.
Her daughter, Lisa Baynum, 25, of Burlington, said she knew something was wrong because her mother left everything behind, including clothes, jewelry and medication. She was reported missing Aug. 24, 1994.
But Mrs. Washer's whereabouts remained a mystery.
In June 1997, three years after Mrs. Washer disappeared, 17 bones were found at the edge of Gunpowder Creek, east of Rabbit Hash and McVille.
It took months, but Emily Craig, Kentucky's forensic anthropologist, identified the bones. There was indication of skull trauma, but how Mrs. Washer died was a mystery.
Mrs. Washer's husband, James, was ruled out as a suspect early. Once the bones were identified, police started issuing public pleas for tips.
They got one Nov. 22 from Lt. Mike Ratliff at the Carroll County Jail. He heard Mr. Freeman's story from his mother-in-law.
Mr. Freeman had told a cousin and his cousin's wife. The cousin's wife told her own mother, who passed the story on to her sister. That sister is Lt. Ratliff's mother-in-law.
"They knew details only the killer would know," Deputy Kenner said.
Deputy Kenner arrested Mr. Freeman at the construction site where he was working. Mr. Freeman knew Mrs. Washer's husband. They became acquaintances two years ago, Deputy Kenner said.
"It's just a coincidence, them knowing each other," Deputy Kenner said. "Mr. Freeman told me that if we were going to charge Jimmy (Mr. Washer) he would have come forward to set the record straight."
Mrs. Washer's family thinks there are still things to sort out about her death. Ms. Spry doesn't believe all of Mr. Freeman's story. Mrs. Washer's daughter, Ms. Baynum, wonders how a car accident turned into her mother's death.
"If it was an accident, he should have called somebody," Ms. Baynum said. "A sick person. Someone without feelings is someone that could throw a woman in the woods."
