UPDATE @ 4:58 p.m. (Oct. 23, 2017): A man accused of murder in the June 2016 death of his girlfriend has been convicted and will be sentenced in November.
Reginald Lee Varner, 48, was found guilty Monday on counts related to Katherine Glass, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr.'s office said in a prepared statement.
Varner is guilty of three counts of murder, which includes a three-year mandatory firearm specification.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Varner shot Glass the night of June 7, 2016, as they sat in a vehicle in the parking lot of Arby’s in Moraine. He then moved the woman’s body from the driver's seat to the passenger side of the vehicle and drove away.
Varner moved the body a second time, to the back of a van located at a home in Jefferson Twp., after the homeowner, a friend of the defendant, called police to report the shooting.
A search of the vehicle uncovered Glass's body.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 8.
UPDATE @ 2:47 p.m. (June 17, 2016)
Reginald Varner was indicted in Montgomery County on three counts of murder with firearms specification; gross abuse of a corpse; tampering with evidence; and two counts felonious assault with firearm specification, in connection to the death of Katherine D. Glass earlier this month.
He will be arraigned in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court June 21. He remains in Montgomery County Jail.
UPDATE @ 4:33 p.m. (June 10)
Official charges have been filed in Kettering Municipal Court in connection with a homicide Moraine police are investigating.
Reginald Lee Varner is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and felony assault.
UPDATE @ 12:11 p.m. (June 9)
Varner is being held in Montgomery County Jail on a preliminary murder charge, according to Sgt. Jon Spencer with the Moraine Police Department.
Spencer told News Center 7’s John Bedell that it is believed Varner shot Glass, his live-in girlfriend, multiple times Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of Arby’s, 5770 Springboro Pike. Spencer said it is believed Glass was shot in the stomach.
“It’s a mystery how nobody reported seeing anything,” Spencer said. “It is believed Mr. Varner traveled with the victim for quite some time in the vehicle that they were in with her deceased.”
The vehicle, which was owned by Glass, was located at a friend’s house in Jefferson Twp. and towed back to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to be processed. A search warrant was executed by Moraine police at that point for the car and their South Union Road residence, Spencer said.
“Mr. Varner had confided in a couple people about what happened, and they contacted the sheriff’s office at that point,” Spencer said.
Since the alleged crime happened in Moraine, the Moraine police are leading the investigation, Spencer said. But the sheriff’s office has been “very instrumental in helping us and they got a lot of evidence prior to contacting us,” he said.
INITIAL REPORT
Moraine police are investigating the death of a woman killed at 5070 Springboro Pike as a homicide, officials confirmed Thursday morning.
It’s not clear when Katherine D. Glass, 56, of South Union Road, was killed. However, police have arrested suspect Reginald Lee Varner, 47, who was being held in the Montgomery County Jail. He has not been charged.
No other information was immediately available. We have a reporter working on the story, and we’ll bring you more information as soon as it’s available.
About the Author