Zimmerman has been charged as a juvenile with delinquent acts of escape, kidnapping, aggravated burglary and felony theft, in addition to his original charge of a delinquent act of murder.
He was read the new charges in Clark County Juvenile Court Monday, but appeared without his lawyer or parents present and did not enter a plea.
Reached by phone Monday, his stepfather, Greg Baca, said the family had no comment on the case.
The teen homicide suspect is accused of escaping from Clark County Juvenile Detention Center workers outside Springfield Regional Medical Center Friday night and holding a 70-year-old Springfield woman hostage at knife-point Saturday morning. He was recaptured later that morning in Fairborn, according to Clark County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Doyle Wright.
The teen fled from outside of the hospital after he was taken to the emergency room on complaints of ankle pain, Wright said. Handcuffs were taken off of his left wrist so he could use crutches when he darted from the detention center workers, he said.
In court Monday, Judge Joseph Monnin said Zimmerman allegedly forced his way into the victim's home on Columbia Street and brandished a knife before forcing the victim into her vehicle to drive him to Fairborn.
Now Kelly would like to see improved procedures for transporting juvenile inmates. He plans to work with Monnin, who oversees the juvenile detention center, to come up with solutions such as making deputies and the department's transport van available.
Adult inmates are always shackled and supervised by multiple armed deputies when being transported to the hospital, and they’ve still had escape attempts, Kelly said.
“These are violent criminals,” he said. “This young man potentially could have killed that woman.”
“Hopefully we can work out some kind of understanding,” to help make these transports safer, Kelly added.
Zimmerman was previously charged in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting death of his uncle, William Henson, in Henson’s Haddix Road home in Mad River Twp.
Prosecutors were already seeking to have him tried as an adult when his alleged escape occurred Friday.
“It’s a serious offense and we’d already done that motion for the prior murder charge, so we’re going to be attempting to move these charges over as well,” Farley said.
He will have a pre-trial hearing in juvenile court this morning on all five charges he now faces.
Also Monday, county prosecutors presented charges against Zimmerman’s co-defendant to a Clark County grand jury.
Robert V. Winbush, 18, of Fairborn, is jailed pending charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary in connection with the Henson’s death.
He pleaded not guilty Friday in Clark County Municipal Court and Judge Thomas Trempe set his bond at $1 million.
Winbush is expected to be arraigned later this week.
About the Author