Five dogs agree on search site

PERRY TWP. - Five cadaver-sniffing dogs all have detected a human scent at the search site where investigators and family members hope the remains of Carrie Culberson will be found.

Two additional specially trained dogs were brought to the pole barn on Fayetteville-Blanchester Road Thursday, "and both of them had hits,'' said Culberson's mother, Debbie.

She said the dogs were being used "just for confirmation and continuing they're in the right spot.''

Authorities have been excavating the barn for nine days looking for the remains of Culberson, the 22-year-old Clinton County woman who disappeared eight years ago. Her ex-boyfriend, Vincent Doan, was convicted in her death and is serving a life sentence.

Digging has reached 15 feet.

Authorities found hair at the barn, but Brown County Sheriff Dwayne Wenninger said it was not relevant to the Culberson case.

Suspect arrested in '03 killing in Northside

MOUNT AIRY - One of three men wanted in a 2003 homicide in Northside was arrested Thursday morning.

Detectives with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office's fugitive unit found Chaz Black, 20, at his house on Monfort Hills Drive. They arrested him on an indictment alleging that he and two other men, Lonnie Asberry and Antonio Sanders, killed and robbed Damin Terrell Warner.

A fourth person, Ashley Hammond, 19, of Northside, has been charged with murder and aggravated robbery in Warner's death. Her case is pending.

Warner, 24, was found shot to death on Hanfield Street on Feb. 3, 2003. He had been shot and wounded two years earlier in Avondale. Standoff nearby cancels school for day

UNION TOWNSHIP - Some 9,000 students in the West Clermont School District got Thursday off because of a police standoff.

An armed Union Township homeowner held police at bay for more than seven hours.

Police were called to the home on Wuebold Lane about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday and found Alden Christianson, 66, who answered the door holding a shotgun under his chin.

Officers negotiated with Christianson throughout the night before he surrendered about 6:30 a.m.

Because the house was close to Glen Este Middle School and the West Clermont school bus garage, classes in the district were canceled. Classes were also canceled for students at three Catholic schools that rely on the district's buses - St. Veronica in Mount Carmel, St. Thomas More in Withamsville and St. Bernadette in Amelia.

Ex-mayor's employee charged with theft

HAMILTON - The office manager of the optometry practice of former Hamilton Mayor Tom Nye was charged with grand theft after police say she stole more than $17,000 from the business.

Rhonda Spradling, 43, of Hamilton, was released on bail Thursday and will be in court May 27.

Spradling was arrested Thursday after a two-week investigation, said Hamilton Police Officer Don Taylor.

Nye said the theft was discovered during an audit.

Spradling, who has worked for Nye for 17 years, was recently fired. It appears that no patient financial information was compromised, Nye said.

"She started in business with me," he said Thursday.