A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9, in Seneca County Common Pleas Court for Bradly Ray, the 50-year-old Fostoria man charged with murder in the 2006 killing of Jeffrey Risner, according to the Fostoria Free Press, which cited 13 ABC (WTVG).
Ray was arrested Oct. 29 by Fostoria police and special agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation after a Seneca County grand jury returned a secret indictment charging him with murder under Ohio Revised Code 2903.02, according to a Fostoria Police Division press release cited by the Free Press. Seneca County Common Pleas Court Judge Damon Alt signed the indictment, police said. Bond was set at $1 million on Oct. 30, 13 ABC reported, according to the Free Press.
Risner, who was also 50, was found dead on March 2, 2006, in a garage or utility building behind his home at 116 Palmer Street in Fostoria, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s cold-case page and Fostoria police, as reported by the Free Press. An autopsy by the Lucas County Coroner’s Office found multiple sharp-force wounds to his neck and blunt-force trauma to the right side of his head, the Attorney General’s Office said. The case then sat unsolved for nearly 20 years before this fall’s indictment.
In a Nov. 3 I-Team “Case Files” report, 13 ABC said Ray is Risner’s former roommate, according to the Free Press, and Risner’s daughter told the station she was not surprised by the arrest. Police have not said what evidence led to the indictment after nearly two decades, and the investigation remains ongoing, the Free Press reported.
Ray has been charged, not convicted. An indictment is a formal accusation, and he is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.
Anyone with information about the case can contact Fostoria police at 419-435-8573 or the BCI tip line at 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446), according to the Free Press. What happens next will be set in Judge Alt’s courtroom: Monday’s pretrial hearing is the step where scheduling, motions and the path toward a possible trial are worked out, and NewsForce247 will follow the case as the court sets its next dates.