By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Highland County Sheriff's Detective Daniel Croy talks with Sharon Birkhimer, manager of the Cedar Woods apartments, about the beating of Robert Duffy. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

HILLSBORO - Robert E. Duffy's kindness almost got him killed.

In a crime that has left many residents of this community 50 miles east of Cincinnati outraged and incredulous, Duffy, a religious 29-year-old man with the intellectual capacity of a pre-teen, was stomped, beaten and left for dead.

The suspects: four people to whom he had opened his apartment.

"He jeopardized his life because he thought God was calling on him to help them; they needed a place to stay, so he let them stay with him," said Sharon Birkhimer, resident manager of Cedar Woods Apartments, where Duffy was living. "I know he was afraid of them. But he thought he was doing what God wanted, and he almost died for it."

Duffy, a Cincinnati native who had lived in Mount Healthy, was in fair condition at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton on Wednesday. Known as the "preacher man," Duffy toted his black, leather-covered Bible, quoting Scriptures and urging others to attend church, Birkhimer said.

Duffy

A teacher and school bus driver noticed Duffy lying in a ditch early Friday and called another bus driver, who called 911, said Highland County Sheriff's Detective Daniel Croy, who worked on the case for three days straight. Duffy was semiconscious.

Scott Henize heard an urgent radio message from fellow driver Bonnie Mount as he was making his rounds for the Lynchburg-Clay Local School District outside Hillsboro near the Clinton County border.

"She called and said we needed to call 911; there was a man in the ditch, and he was all bloody," Henize said. "It's kind of scary; it's kind of disturbing," Henize said.

Duffy, who suffered head injuries, had been in the ditch at least four hours by the time he was discovered, investigators believe.

"I honestly think that, if it hadn't been for them being observant enough and caring enough to stop and make that proper phone call, we would be investigating a homicide," Croy said. "No one deserves to be beaten as he was and left along the side of the road as he was. But because of his mental handicap, that just compounds it. He was defenseless."

Yet people with disabilities are four to 10 times more likely to become victims of crime, said Robert Jennings, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Customers at Magee's Snack Shop, a town hangout since 1946, said they couldn't remember hearing of such an attack happening in Highland County, where census figures show nearly a quarter of the 41,500 residents are considered disabled.

"I can't imagine anybody doing something like that," said Jeff Rhude, owner of Magee's. He's heard some of the restaurant's regulars - including sheriff's deputies - talking about the attack. "The majority of people are saying they're upset." Rhude said.

Duffy's attackers "should be dealt with severely," said Magee's customer Joyce Fender, a lifelong Hillsboro-area resident.

"It was like attempted murder to me," said Carol Mitchell, who was sharing a booth with Fender.

County Sheriff Ron Ward said emotions are running so high, the suspects "probably are lucky they're in jail." He said when fellow county jail inmates learned about the allegations from a TV news broadcast on Monday, an inmate punched one of Duffy's alleged attackers, Mark J. Vaught, 22, in the face. "This even crosses the standard of criminal behavior among criminals," Ward said.

The other suspects are Jason R. Poor, 26, Samuel M. Ross, 25, and his 22-year-old sister, Hilda Ross.

The suspects were being held on initial charges of felonious assault. Additional charges are possible.

The four "were sponging off of" Duffy's meager government income, the sheriff said. "They weren't hanging around him because they liked him. They were using him," Ward said.

But for some reason, Vaught thought Duffy had reported him for a probation violation - and that may have been the motive for the attack, Ward said. After the attack, Duffy was put in a vehicle and driven about eight miles before being dumped at the roadside.

Duffy was so badly injured he at first was unable to speak. However, various bits of information came together from other sources, helping investigators piece together what happened, Ward said.

Croy, the detective, thinks other people who know something about the case might not have yet come forward.

"Maybe the witnesses to the events leading up to this crime may not know the significance of what they saw. Maybe they are in fear," he said. "But we need them to give us a call."

Croy can be reached at (937) 393-1421.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com