Dayton man indicted for murder after missing man’s body found in garage

A man indicted Friday for murder is accused of shooting to death a Dayton man reported missing whose badly decomposing body was found in July inside a detached garage.

Jeremy Heath Van Voorhis, 47, is scheduled to appear Sept. 22 for his arraignment in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for two counts of murder and two counts of felonious assault, each with three-year firearm specifications; plus one count of gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

Credit: Allen County Jail

Credit: Allen County Jail

Investigators allege Van Voorhis shot and killed 44-year-old Clinton James “CJ” Pierce of Dayton on or around July 15.

“Van Voorhis then hid Pierce’s body under multiple layers of flooring materials and other items in a detached garage,” an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court stated.

Dayton police responded Aug. 18 to a house in the 400 block of Burkhardt Avenue after a woman reported a bad smell coming from a garage. Inside, officers found a body later identified as Pierce.

“The body was badly decomposed, but from the cause of death, it appears to be a homicide from the evidence at the scene,” Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns said last month.

Pierce had been reported missing in July, police said.

He is survived by his parents, sister, fiancée, three children and one granddaughter, according to his obituary.

Van Voorhis is in the Allen County Jail in Lima. He is held on a $200,000 cash-only bond on a felony charge of failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer. He was arrested Aug. 24 by Allen County Sheriff’s deputies, records show.

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

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