CADIZ, Ohio — Ronald “Joe” Myers has been with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office for 39 years, the last 16 as sheriff.
When he retires at the end of next month, Myers won’t miss calls like the one he got Friday.
A body had been found, apparently dumped along a road in a wooded area in the northwest section of the eastern Ohio county, just a few hundred yards from the Carroll County line.
An off-duty Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer found the body while preparing for deer hunting, spotting it from his four-wheeler.
It turned out to the be the body of Trentin Isaac, a 16-year-old Mansfield teen who disappeared on Nov. 12 — three days before the body was discovered nearly 100 miles away.
It triggered a combined investigation by Myers’ office, along with the Mansfield Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Harrison County, the fifth-least populous county in Ohio with less than 15,000 residents, doesn’t get many homicides or suspicious deaths.
Its county seat is Cadiz, a community of about 3,000 people perhaps best known for being the boyhood home of actor Clark Gable.
There was no discussion of the case in a couple of village restaurants on Tuesday, likely because the local weekly newspaper, the Harrison News-Herald, doesn’t publish a print edition until Friday and the news had not yet been posted on its website.
Authorities in both communities Tuesday were reluctant to discuss details of the case on Friday, worried details made public too soon could harm the investigation.
“We don’t want to go into too much detail,” said HCSO Capt. Mark Touville, who was elected in November to replace the outgoing sheriff.
“We don’t want to put too much out in the public. (Mansfield) is doing their investigation there. Of course, we’re in the middle of an investigation on our end. There’s crimes that may have been committed here and may have been committed there, so we’ve kind of got to figure it all out,” Touville said.
During a Tuesday afternoon interview with Richland Source in his office, joined by Touville, Myers said he understands the public wants answers, but investigators are loathe to release details that perhaps only the perpetrators may know.
“We know everybody wants closure on this, but it’s not going to be a fast investigation. You’re spanning probably six counties, I figure, between here and Mansfield,” the sheriff said.
If Issac was killed in Mansfield, as authorities suspect, it would have taken two hours, largely using U.S. 30 and U.S. 250, to get the body to Harrison County, which is just about 25 miles from Wheeling, W.Va., in the foothills of Appalachia.
(The area around Cadiz in Harrison County is hilly and rural. The county was formed from parts of Jefferson and Tuscarawas counties in 1813. It was named after General William Henry Harrison, the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe in the War of 1812 and later the ninth U.S. president).
Myers said there was no immediate connection between the body found in Harrison County and the Mansfield teen.
He said a deputy used the internet to look for missing persons in Ohio and came across the news from Mansfield via social media. He notified a department investigator.
“(Mansfield police) were contacted Friday night with just the basic assumption … just an assumption. ‘Hey, here is what we found. This is what you put out. This could be your guy,'” Touville said.
Harrison County has an agreement with the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office for autopsies and that is where the body was sent on Friday. Late Monday afternoon, the Isaac identify was confirmed by the coroner’s office.
“I got the call around 4 p.m.,” Myers said.
Mansfield police Chief Jason Bammann said his department was notified by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office Monday evening that the identify was confirmed.
“It is being investigated in Harrison County as a suspicious death,” Bammann said Tuesday morning. “We don’t have a lot more to go on at this point. They are processing that scene down there.”
“The family and the community can be assured that the division will work diligently to not only answer these questions, but also bring justice to the individuals who committed this act,” Bammann said.
“We continue to seek the public’s assistance with any information about this case. Again, detectives investigating the case have received numerous unverified tips and rumors concerning videos and social media posts, but no such evidence has been submitted to Mansfield police,” the chief said.
He urged anyone with information regarding potential videos, photographs, or social media content related to Isaac or the circumstances of his disappearance to come forward immediately.
Bammann said there was nothing new to report early Tuesday evening.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to contact Mansfield police Det. Ronee Swisher at 419-755-9432.
A GoFund me campaign has been launched to help pay for Issac’s funeral expenses.
