Compiled from staff and wire reports

Blood donors sought to aid holiday supply

Be a patriot. Give blood. Get a T-shirt.

In hopes of building up blood supplies that traditionally dwindle around holiday weekends, Hoxworth Blood Center has launched a blood drive to encourage donations before the Fourth of July holiday.

Blood drive locations include Eastgate Mall, Rookwood Commons today and all Hoxworth neighborhood centers.

All donors will receive a free "American Blood Donor" T-shirt. For more information, call Hoxworth at 451-0910 or visit www.hoxworth.org.

Suspect in fires remains in jail

MASON - A 21-year-old Deerfield Township man accused of lighting a string of trash bin fires, one of which destroyed a small strip center, remained jailed Tuesday as his case was referred to a grand jury.

Derric Urton, of Steeplechase Lane, waived a preliminary hearing on arson charges in Municipal Court. Assistant City Prosecutor Matt Graber said the case is expected to be presented to a county grand jury Thursday.

Sheriff's detectives said Urton was unaware that one of the trash fires, allegedly set as he walked home June 25 from a Landen bar, had ignited the Morand Building on Columbia Road and burned it down.

Urton is being held at the Warren County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police are investigating a second 21-year-old man who may have been present or participated in setting the fires, but no charges have been filed against him.

Body ID'd as that of Bond Hill woman

AMBERLEY VILLAGE - Police have identified the body of a woman found in a creek in the 2100 block of Section Road as that of Patricia Moody, 44, of Bond Hill.

The body was found Monday morning. Police have not released any details surrounding the death.

Moody had been missing since June 26, police said.

Anyone with information about the death is asked to call Amberley Village police at 531-2040 or Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

N. Ky. rape suspect arrested in Anderson

A 32-year-old Westwood man wanted on a rape warrant from Boone County was arrested Tuesday in Anderson Township.

Charles Mulligan was arrested about 1:10 p.m. near a service station at Five Mile Road and Kellogg Avenue, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said.

Mulligan had outstanding warrants from the Boone County Sheriff's Office on charges of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, according to the Sheriff's Office. He is accused of molesting a 4-year-old girl in Kentucky.

Mulligan was taken to the Hamilton County jail to await extradition proceedings.

Franklin teen badly hurt in head-on crash

FRANKLIN TWP. - An 18-year-old driver was in critical condition Tuesday after crashing head-on with another vehicle as he tried to pass a motorcyclist on Ohio 122, Ohio State Highway Patrol officials said.

Tyler J. Gillespie, of Franklin, was flown to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton after the 7:16 a.m. crash at Shaker Road.

Trooper Kevin Bryant, of the patrol's Lebanon post, said Gillespie was headed east on Ohio 122 in a 1989 Pontiac Firebird when he crossed the center line in a passing zone and struck a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Heidi Herschede, 41, of Centerville, Ohio.

Herschede received minor injuries and was treated at Sycamore Hospital in Dayton, Bryant said. No charges have been filed while the crash is under investigation.

Investigators are urging the motorcyclist, who left the scene, to call the Lebanon patrol post so he can give an eyewitness account.

Oklahoma executes killer from Ohio

McALESTER, Okla. - An Ohioan who went on a deadly multistate crime spree nearly 10 years ago was executed Tuesday evening after an appeals court denied a request for a stay of execution.

Lewis Eugene Gilbert was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a lethal mix of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He had been sentenced to death for the Sept. 3, 1994, killing of Roxanne Lynn Ruddell at Lake Stanley Draper.

Gilbert, of Newcomerstown, Ohio, also was sentenced to death in Missouri for killing William and Flossie Brewer. Authorities said he confessed to killing Ruth Lucille Loader in eastern Ohio, where the crime spree began.

He was captured about a week later near Santa Fe, N.M.

Tire recycler fined, agrees to removal

HAMILTON - A tire recycling company has agreed to pay a $25,120 fine and remove at least 33,000 scrap tires within three months from its storage facility, state environmental regulators said.

D&R Recyclers Inc., of Hamilton, also agreed to new management practices to ensure the safety of residents who attend a nearby school, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said.

The tire removal must continue at a rate of 33,000 tires every month thereafter, according to the company's agreement with the Ohio EPA.