Tuesday, July 20, 1999

Neighbors missed auto

---

BY MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Homicide investigators Jim Grindle, left, and Andy Davis pass along information to uniformed officers. (Thomas E. Witte photo) | ZOOM |

        SPRINGDALE — Police are hoping evidence collected from a 28-year-old Buick Centurion will lead them to the person or people responsible for the death of a Springdale man.

        It's the first homicide in this city of 11,000 in 11 years.

        The victim was identified as Frederick Walker, 67. His body was found in his home in the 11600 block of Lawnview Avenue about 9:50 a.m. Monday.

        A preliminary examination by the Hamilton County Coroner's Office determined death was caused by “blunt-force trauma,” Springdale Police Chief Michael Laage said.

        Neighbors alerted authori ties after noticing that Mr. Walker's daily newspapers — from Saturday, Sunday and Monday — had piled up in his front yard. They also noticed that his 1971 mint condition Buick Centurion was missing from his driveway.

        Acting on a tip from a caller, police found the car about 4:30 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of Tri-County Mall, near Sears.

        “These kinds of things don't happen here,” Chief Laage said. “We have a lot of property crimes (related to Tri-County Mall). But that's it.”

        The back door of Mr. Walker's ranch-style home was found “unsecured,” police said. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing appeared to have been taken other than the car.

        Neighbors described Mr. Walker as a quiet man who lived alone, kept to himself and had no visitors.

        He was retired and had lived on Lawnview for decades, neighbors said, adding that the victim was frequently seen washing or waxing the Centurion. He would wave or say hello, but rarely said or did more than that.

        Kamilia Shteiwi and her family have lived several doors away for 30 years.

        “We never heard or saw anything,” Mrs. Shteiwi said. “I hadn't seen him for awhile. We thought he was on vacation.”

        Mr. Walker was not married and had lived in the house with his father, who died several years ago, neighbors said.

        Mrs. Shteiwi said she last saw Mr. Walker July 12. “We waved like we always did and that was it,” she said, adding that the death has frightened many along this quiet, tree-lined street.

        Chief Laage said detectives from Cincinnati's Homicide Unit and other police officials were in Springdale on Monday.

        Though there are similarities between this homicide and that of West End resident J. Richard Abell, also 67, — whose body was found in his home about noon Saturday — investigators declined to speculate whether the two incidents are connected.

       

---

Taft scuttles sales tax plan
Anderson High to stay Redskins
Bad air likely to linger for the week
Corrections made in way trash hauled
Headline: 'Footsteps on moon!'
Neighbors missed auto
911 service cut off for 12 hours
Taft gives Bush Ohio thumbs-up
Bell's upstream ride goes smoothly
A generation will remember Jackie's boy
A feel for farming
Friends of slain West End man 'can't figure out the reason why'
Let out, Watts now prisoner of his memories
Pickets back MU students
Butler Co. high school backs off on uniforms
Butler traffic watch reports big drop in DUI accidents, no deaths
Clermont's 150th fair has touch of history
Ky. man helped Kennedy keep fit
New law empowers townships
Parking at airport may get easier
Plant will give town a new life
Study: Ohio education agency lost, inefficient
Walnut Hills man found dead in Fla.
Buyouts may solve flood woes
Center accepts check
GET TO IT
Juvenile judge must decide: Is teen a victim or attacker?
Two new defendants OK'd in school asbestos case
Police, coroner study death of West End girl, 4
Principal coming out of retirement for one-year stint at Donovan
School's in session for Heritage Hill kids
Storms sap power in 200 homes
TRISTATE DIGEST
Victimized family forgives man who shot at them