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CHAD SOUTH |
CHARDON — Day three of the Daniel E. Ott murder trial was dominated by the testimony of a Geauga County Sheriff’s Office detective who has worked on the case since the beginning.
Chad South, 46, of Moraine, has a bench trial in front of Geauga County Pleas Court Judge Forrest W. Burt for the May 26, 2006, murder of Ott, who was killed in his Burton Township home.
That morning, a masked gunman entered a Claridon-Troy Road home, where Ott and his girlfriend were asleep. They were awakened by their dog whimpering in the kitchen. The gunman, allegedly South, bound Ott’s hands. The victim was able to break free, a struggle ensued and he was fatally shot in the chest with a shotgun. Authorities believe South was part of a murder-for-hire plot organized by a man he met while serving in the London Correctional Institution. They also believe it was a mistaken-identity case.
Detective Juanita Vetter assisted in the interview of Ott’s girlfriend Mary Ann Ricker at the Sheriff’s Office May 26, 2006. She testified Ricker briefly become a suspect in the case, but after an extensive follow-up, she was removed from the list.
Geauga County Sheriff’s Office Detective Joe Keough is now retired. The detectives eventually were led to Logan County, where they learned of a man named Daniel C. Ott. The Geauga detectives learned Daniel C. Ott stole cars for a chop-shop operation run out of Logan County. Joe Rosebrook was the “brains” of the operation and Curtis Frazier was the mechanic. In 2004, Frazier provided state’s evidence against Rosebrook. In retaliation, Rosebrook hired Daniel C. Ott to kill Frazier, but he, too, turned state’s evidence against Rosebrook. As a result, Rosebrook was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which he served at the London Correction Institution.
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