He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 14.
On April 14, 2024, Dayton police responded to a shooting in an apartment in the 400 block of Bowen Street.
Officers arrived to find 15-year-old Kendra Mae Farler shot in the chest with a shotgun, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office. Police started CPR, but the teen died from her injuries.
Farler initially claimed his 15-year-old nonverbal, autistic stepson shot the girl, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“Upon further investigation and interviews, that was later proved to be false and that the young lady was shot and killed by her father inside the Bowen Street address,” Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns said.
Farler later admitted to the shooting and said it was an accident, according to Dayton Municipal Court records.
“Our victim was asking him to not point the shotgun at her prior to her death,” Johns said. “That’s not an accident.”
Farler was on probation at the time of the shooting and was convicted of trafficking cocaine less than a month beforehand, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Investigators reportedly found four guns when they searched the apartment.
“(Farler) has been arrested approximately 40 times over the past 20 years and has previously been sentenced to the penitentiary,” said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. “This defendant should never be allowed anywhere near a firearm and deserves to be in prison. A completely innocent 15‐year‐old girl has lost her life at the hands of her father.”
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