The 38-year-old man Lockland man, who sat in jail for five months awaiting trial, insisted he did not kill Alisa Traylor, according to defense attorney David Washington Jr.
Gobran, a father of two young children, faced 20 years to life in prison if convicted of stabbing the 30-year-old Traylor to death on Oct. 25, 2008. The victim, who was separated from her husband at the time of her death, was also the mother of two young boys.
“He never wavered,” Washington said, noting that after his arrest Gobran pushed to be tried as quickly as possible. The defendant also insisted on taking the stand, something Washington admits he wasn’t sold on.
But in the end, Gobran was the only witness for the defense, taking the stand and telling the jury he didn’t kill Traylor.
“The jury wanted to hear him say it,” Washington said. The attorney said he believes Gobran and always has.
“I do not believe Andy committed this murder. I believe there is someone else out there who killed her,” Washington said. “I live in this community too and there is a killer out there roaming the streets. I hope they find the killer and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
David Traylor, Alisa’s estranged husband, has no doubt, despite the jury’s verdict, of Gobran’s role.
“I think he got away with murder,” he said.
“We now have a homicide that doesn’t have closure if there is no conviction,” said Hamilton police Chief Neil Ferdelman.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said, “A ‘not guilty’ verdict doesn’t mean the defendant is innocent. It means there wasn’t enough evidence to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Police, prosecutor: New evidence would mean a new investigation
When Andy Gobran took the witness stand on Dec. 11, he knew he was fighting for his life. His attorney, David Washington Jr., said Gobran wanted the jury to hear his side.
It wasn’t a pretty story, Gobran knew, but he insisted it didn’t include murder.
Gobran admitted he came to Hamilton to sell marijuana, picked up Alisa Traylor and negotiated a price for sex, then they walked to a secluded area at Pershing Avenue and Seventh Street . After the encounter, a man with a knife attacked him, he said. As they struggled, Traylor went through his pockets. Gobran said he believes Traylor was setting him up for a robbery.
Gobran said he was stabbed in the leg by Traylor, pulled the knife out of his leg and began backing away.
“They kept coming toward me,” Gobran said, saying he threw the knife and believes it hit Traylor, “because she held her side.”
But he denied stabbing Traylor repeatedly, causing her death. According to trial evidence, the woman was stabbed 25 times with one slice cutting her jugular vein.
Gobran also admitted he lied to Hamilton police for months, giving them several versions of why he was in possession of Traylor’s cell phone. That phone, which he said on the stand was left in his car by the deceased, and the inconsistencies in the stories along with DNA evidence of a sexual encounter, led to the charges, according to detective and prosecutors.
Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum pointed to a statement Gobran made in a taped jail house phone conversation with his girlfriend Chauna Wells as a possible motive for the slaying.
“I was angry at myself and I was putting it out on everyone,” Gobran said in the tape. Phillabaum pointed out he (Gobran) had a fight with his girlfriend and was angry when he left on the night of Oct. 24, 2008 and picked up Traylor in the early morning hours.
Hamilton detectives said that from October 2008 to July 18 of this year when he was arrested, Gobran told them multiple accounts, ranging from not knowing Traylor to buying her cell phone in Fairfield from an unknown man to saying he paid her for a sex act but fled when he heard a man’s angry voice, to finally, that he tried to defend Traylor, whom he called “Shorty,” from an unknown assailant.
The prosecution said the stories were invented by Gobran to hide the truth that he had killed Traylor.
But Washington hammered home that the only reason Gobran was charged was because he changed his story. Gobran’s account that another person was present was plausible, he told the jury.
The evidence presented by the state was not enough to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Gobran killed Traylor and took her cell phone, thus allegedly committing robbery.
Hamilton Police Chief Neil Ferdelman praised the detectives on the case who conducted an “exhaustive, difficult investigation” for months before the arrest.
“These are good detectives,” Ferdelman said, adding that the detectives, James Cifuentes, Robert Horton and Patrick Erb, are convinced they got the right man.
“I think the jury gave the defendant the benefit of the doubt,” the chief said.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper, who advised detectives before Gobran’s arrest, said, “all the facts and the evidence pointed to this guy.”
Piper said the legal system is a process that is meant to be played out.
“Sometimes there is enough evidence for an arrest, but we don’t get an indictment. Sometimes there is enough evidence to get an indictment from a grand jury, such as this case, but it is not enough to convince a jury at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.”
There is no current active investigation by the Hamilton Police Department into Traylor’s homicide. Ferdelman said if new information or evidence comes to light, detectives will launch an investigation.
“Absolutely there would be an investigation,” Ferdelman said. “It is not a perfect world, this may be one that goes down without closure ... or someone may have gotten away with murder.”
Piper agreed any new evidence would lead to an investigation.
“We will be the first to jump up and say we are going to investigate,” he said.
Can Gobran offer any help to police to solve the crime?
Washington said, “Would you? The last time he tried to help, they charged him with murder.”
The attorney said his client declines comment.
“He wants to put this chapter behind him,” Washington said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.
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