BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON — If a human body has 206 bones, where are the rest of Diane Washer's? Seventeen of the Covington mother's bones will be returned soon to her family. That can occur now that the investigation into her 1994 disappearance has led to an arrest.
But her family isn't satisfied with accused killer Larry Ray Freeman's story. And the discrepancy in the number of bones is only the beginning of their questions.
Mr. Freeman, 27, of Union, appeared in court Monday afternoon. His hearing was rescheduled for Friday after he asked for more time to deal with some other issues. His attorney, Ed Drennen, did not elaborate on what the issues are.
Mrs. Washer's family also wants to know why no one, in more than four years, came forward with information. Mr. Freeman, in his confession to Boone County Sheriff's deputies, said he admitted the killing some time ago to relatives.
But it wasn't until several days before Thanksgiving that a relative reported the story to a deputy jailer in Carroll County. He told authorities here.
“It's a little bit odd, I think,” said June Lockard, Mrs. Washer's mother.
She and Mrs. Washer's daughter, Lisa Baynum, are also stunned that Mr. Freeman worked at the same construction site as Mrs. Washer's husband, Jimmy.
They and Mrs. Washer's two sisters sat in court Monday just feet behind Mr. Freeman, who shuffled in with chains around his ankles, wrists and waist. They admitted it was all they could do to stop themselves from lunging over the partition at him.
The women also question Mr. Freeman's explanation — that he and Mrs. Washer met in a bar, drove around drinking and taking pills, and that he blacked out and wrecked. When he regained consciousness, he said, he dragged her body to the edge of Gunpowder Creek and buried it under rocks. When he woke up the next morning, he told deputies, he didn't know if the accident was real or a dream.
Deputies are still looking into Mr. Freeman's version of the story, but they haven't found anything yet to the contrary, Sheriff Mike Helmig said Monday. The bone question could be answered, he said, simply by weather and erosion. He is certain that his officers, under the direction of state forensic anthropologist Emily Craig, carefully searched every bit of the creek area.
Mrs. Washer's remains were found in June 1997 and identified a year later after DNA tests.
