Trial date set in case involving stolen police cruiser that killed 2 girls

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

A new trial date has been set in the case that accuses a man of stabbing his father, stealing a police cruiser and fleeing police, ultimately causing a crash and killing two young girls.

Raymond A. Walters is due in court in September next year for a trial. He is charged in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court with a number of felonies including murder, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, felonious assault and robbery, among others. He’s pleaded not guilty in the case.

He appeared in court Wednesday afternoon for a short motion to suppress hearing where prosecutors called Dayton police detective David House and quickly asked about how he obtained search warrants and records from the Lebanon Correctional Institution. There was no cross-examination, and the court was recessed after.

Walters is accused of causing a crash Aug. 26, 2019, in the area of East Third Street and Patterson Boulevard that killed 6-year-old cousins Penelope Jasko and Eleanor McBride.

Authorities said previously that Walters was released from the Lebanon Correctional Institution on Aug. 10, 2019, after serving a term for robbery.

Authorities said they began their investigation Aug. 26, 2019, when they were called to Xenia Avenue for a man who was seen bleeding. When they spoke with the man, he said his son stabbed him with a knife and fled in the man’s pickup truck.

“The defendant eventually crashed the truck on Airway Road in Riverside,” the report says. “When the Riverside Police responded to the traffic crash, the defendant stole a Riverside Police cruiser and drove away that a high rate of speed. Minutes later, the defendant struck multiple vehicles in downtown Dayton.”

The crash killed the two girls, authorities said. The family told this news organization that Penelope and Eleanor were best friends who did everything together.

In the court case, the defense has filed a motion to suppress, but that motion along with other documents in the case has been restricted from public access.

Walters is in custody at the Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond.

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