Friday, August 06, 1999
Handyman arrested in Butler Co. slayings
Couple found dead in home
BY JANICE MORSE and RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — The couple lived in a serene, neatly kept middle-class neighborhood in Butler County where street signs bear quaint names such as Goldfinch Circle, Hummingbird Lane and Verdant Drive.
Yet, as their neighbors walked dogs, tended yards and washed cars this week, Abram W. Smith and Jimalee Minix lay slain inside their white brick home at 8760 Bluebird Drive.
Police discovered the bodies just after 1:30 p.m. Thursday. By 7:15 p.m., a suspect, Anthony Larry Rudolph, 42, a 1998 state prison parolee, was taken into custody in Licking County, near Columbus. Details of his arrest were unavailable, said Union Township Police Capt. John Bruce.
Preliminary autopsy results show the couple, both in their 50s, had been shot to death, said Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard P. Burkhardt. No gun was found at the scene, he said.
Ms. Minix's body was found in an upstairs hallway of the bilevel house; her common-law husband of about 10 years was found in the downstairs family room area.
Neighbors were stunned and scared.
Martha Grace Vaughn, who lives on the same block of Blue bird Drive, said, “Nothing like this has happened” in the 29 years she and her husband, James Vaughn, have lived in the neighborhood.
“We don't lock our doors half the time,” she said Thursday. “I've been here all day with our doors unlocked and our garage door up.”
Ms. Minix's brother, Charles Arnett, who lives in the Mason area, said he last talked to his sister on Friday and had been unable to reach her by telephone since then.
On Wednesday, he stopped at the house and saw that the couple's dogs had tangled their leashes and their water bowls were filled with bugs and leaves. “I thought it was strange; why they didn't call us if they went on a trip,” Mr. Arnett said.
When Mr. Arnett returned to check on the house again onThursday, it was surrounded by yellow crime-scene tape, police cars, news crews and coro ner's investigators.
After police told him his sister had been slain and showed him a photo of Mr. Rudolph, Mr. Arnett said he thought the suspect might have resembled “the tall one” among a trio of handymen his sister hired to do masonry and other work several weeks ago. Mr. Rudolph stands 6-feet-6 and weighs 205 pounds.
Union Township Lt. Joel Herzog said police learned of the slayings about 11:30 a.m.
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