Homicide suspect caught in Fairborn

A manhunt is over after a 17-year-old homicide suspect wearing orange jail clothes, no jacket or shoes Friday night fled two juvenile detention employees at the Springfield Regional Medical Center.

UPDATE @ 2:10 p.m. Jan. 24

Clark County Chief Deputy Doyle Wright provided more details about what has transpired since Zimmerman escaped last night.

Zimmerman apparently spent the night in the house on Columbia Street, and the woman who lives there was unaware of him being in her house.

The woman did well to abide by the suspect's rules, Wright said. He assured her he would not hurt her if she drove him to Fairborn, Wright said.

About the escape, Wright said Zimmerman was taken by two juvenile detention officers to the Springfield Regional emergency room. He was complaining of an injury to his ankle.

Wright said the handcuffs were taken off Zimmerman to accommodate crutches, and that’s when he got away from the officers.

UPDATE @ 12:01 p.m. Jan. 24

We will be live streaming a 2 p.m. press conference on www.whio.com, www.daytondailynews.com, and www.springfieldnewssun.com where more details are expected to be released about Zimmerman's capture.

Caution tape remains up at the Columbia Street house. An evidence crew is on scene there.

The press conference wil be held at the sheriff’s office at 120 North Fountain Ave., Springfield.

UPDATE @ 11:53 a.m. Jan. 24

Investigators are working to learn more about what happened early this morning at a home on West Columbia Street.

A woman told police she awoke and found the suspect in her home.

Zimmerman asked her to take him to Fairborn and the woman complied, according to police.

The woman told police the suspect didn’t harm her in any way.

Ana Rodriguez spoke to WHIO’s Malik Perkins moments after Fairborn police arrested the suspect and drove away from East Emerson Avenue.

Rodriguez said Zimmerman gave her a message to give to her sister, who she said had been Zimmerman’s girlfriend.

"When they got him I was walking down here and I looked in the back of the car and I saw him," Rodriguez said. "He told me to tell my sister that he loves her."

Zimmerman was expected to be picked up in Fairborn by a Clark County sheriff’s officer and to be taken back to county facilities.

UPDATE @ 10:20 a.m. Jan. 24

The suspect has been caught in Fairborn.

Our photographer was there as Zimmerman was in the back of a Fairborn cruiser that sped away from the area of the 300 block of East Emerson Avenue.

Fairborn police contacted the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to inform investigators there of the arrest and to call off the search, according to scanner traffic.

Clark County dispatch center indicated an update would be sent out as a press release soon.

UPDATE @ 9:44 a.m. Jan. 24

We’re on scene where Springfield police have crime scene tape up around a house.

The sergeant there tells us the search for Zimmerman led officers to the house, but it’s not confirmed that the suspect was there and further details were not provided in the developing investigation.

At the same time, Greene County sheriff’s deputies were assisting Fairborn police in tracking down a reported sighting there.

UPDATE @ 10:55 p.m. Jan. 23:

A 17-year-old homicide suspect wearing orange jail clothes, no jacket or shoes and handcuffs on his right hand Friday night fled two juvenile detention employees.

Chief Deputy Doyle Wright of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said Raymond Zimmerman was brought around 8:50 p.m. to the Springfield Regional Medical Center emergency room, “to be treated for an ankle injury he was complaining about.”

“They were uncuffing him to have him treated and he jumped up after one cuff was off and ran out the door,” Wright said. “The juvenile detention employees gave chase across the parking lot and he was able to escape from them and is still on the loose here in Springfield at this time.”

He is charged in the Jan. 14 homicide of a Haddix Road man in Mad River Twp.

Zimmerman is described as a slender white male with blue eyes and blond hair who stands 6 feet and weighs 160 pounds. He has braces and an injury to his lip from the braces, Wright said. He also has tattoos stating “Ohio” and “California” on his upper right arm and a tattoo depicting prayer hands on his upper left arm.

Anyone who sees him should call 9-1-1. Do not approach him, Wright said, because he is considered dangerous.

UPDATE @ 9:49 p.m. Jan. 23:

Inmate Raymond Zimmerman, 17, escaped from the Springfield Regional Medical Center about 9 p.m., Clark County sheriff’s Maj. Russell Garman said.

Just prior to the escape, Zimmerman had been taken to the hospital for a possible ankle injury.

He was last seen on foot, running south on Yellow Springs Street, wearing orange pants, an orange pullover shirt and no shoes.

Zimmerman has a tattoo of “Ohio” on one arm and “California” on his other arm. He also has a pair of handcuffs on one of his wrists.

Investigators have no information that Zimmerman received any help in his escape.

He is to be considered dangerous and should not be approached.

If you see him, you are asked to dial 9-1-1 or call the sheriff’s office at 328-2561 or Springfield Police Division at 324-7694.

FIRST REPORT

Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with the shooting death and robbery of a Clark County gun collector who had hundreds of firearms at his home.

Robert V. Winbush, 18, of Fairborn, has been charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. He pleaded not guilty Friday in Clark County Municipal Court. Judge Thomas Trempe set his bond at $1 million.

Raymond Zimmerman, 17, address at large, has been charged with a delinquent act of murder and is in the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center. Zimmerman is the nephew of shooting victim William Henson and briefly lived with him, according to a sheriff’s report.

“He had the knowledge and information of where the victim lived and how to gain access,” Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said

The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion Friday seeking to have Zimmerman face charges as an adult. Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Monnin said Friday that it will likely be two to three weeks before he rules on the motion.

This news outlet typically doesn’t name juveniles but has in this case due to the severity of the accusations and request to charge Zimmerman as an adult.

Winbush could face the death penalty. Clark County Prosecutor Andrew Wilson said his office will decide whether to pursue the death penalty closer to when he presents the case to a grand jury.

Deputies began the investigation Wednesday morning when they got a call from the victim’s sister that she had found Henson, 59, dead in his home at 10799 Haddix Road. The house was in disarray and several guns were missing.

Investigators spoke to witnesses who said Winbush and Zimmerman told them about the shooting, a sheriff’s report stated.

After 36 hours of combing through and cataloging evidence, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office worked with multiple agencies to execute search warrants at three residences in Fairborn. During those searches, deputies said they found 38 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

The suspects had allegedly sold some of the firearms already, Kelly said, and were trying to sell others online.

The teens also reportedly had traded some guns for drugs, Maj. Russell Garman said.

“The combination of guns and ammunition on the streets where they are going to be traded for drugs or cash, they could have wreaked havoc on southwest Ohio,” Kelly said.

Henson had served in the military and was a good man, his cousin Jeremy Jarvis said.

He was private and wouldn’t let just anyone into his home, Jarvis said, so it didn’t surprise him to learn a relative has been accused in the death.

“Bill had a small social circle so he didn’t associate with too many people,” Jarvis said.

Franklin Collins lived a few doors down from Henson and said he was disturbed by the news of his death.

“I hated it,” Collins said. “I liked Bill as a neighbor.”

He said he was relieved to hear that it was an acquaintance and not a random burglar.

“I’m just relieved that it wasn’t people coming from other places and doing it, but it’s sad Bill had to go that way,” Collins said.

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