The circumstances, separated by 26 years, are chilling: Two women are attacked while bicycling alone down lonely OH country roads on warm July days.
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New details released in the Sierah Joughin investigation reveal a large amount of evidence found at the home of the Fulton County man charged with her murder.
Authorities have spent the past several days digging through the farmhouse and barns where Worley operated a small-engine fix shop surrounded by northwestern Ohio’s vast soybean and cornfields. “Right now we are overwhelmed with grief and planning something [Sierah’s funeral] that seems unimaginable”, the family told People in a text message.
James Worley, 57, is being held on charges of abduction and aggravated murder.
DeWine said Worley’s criminal history of a similar attack made it worth investigating whether other women have been victimized.
Mr. Powers, who was appointed to the case on Tuesday before the aggravated murder charge was filed, declined to comment.
A man has been charged with aggravated murder in the death of an OH college student who disappeared last week while riding her bicycle.
Worley allegedly told police he had hidden cameras around his property.
Authorities talked to Worley, who told them his motorcycle had broken down in the same location, and that he’d lost his helmet, screwdriver, sunglasses and fuses, according to the search warrants.
Search warrants released Thursday indicate investigators are looking into whether James Worley may have kept an unknown number of victims inside a hidden room in his barn.
Authorities also reported finding several pairs of “female panties and undergarments found in the property, one of which had blood on them”, according to the warrants. Investigators have been looking into the possibility of additional victims since his arrest Friday.
Cell phone records were also said to show that Worley had spent nearly two hours at the scene of the abduction, and had been in the area where the body was discovered.
Statement from family of Sierah Joughin.
Those items, including a blood-covered motorcycle helmet, were found at the spot where Joughin’s bike was located, the documents said.
According to the Associated Press, on July 4, 1990, then 26-year-old Robin Gardner was biking along an OH road when Worley grabbed her from her bike and put her in his truck.
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Worley entered an Alford plea to abduction, meaning he didn’t admit guilt but conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him.
