Slain Ohio child eulogized as ‘a special girl’

Associated Press

SMITHVILLE, Ohio

A 9-year-old purportedly raped and strangled by a neighbor in Northeast Ohio was eulogized as a special girl who touched the lives of others.

Funeral services took place Saturday afternoon for Reann Murphy. Her body was found six days earlier in a trash bin near her trailer-park home in Smithville, southwest of Akron.

The Smithville Brethren Church service remembered Reann as a sweetheart with a disarming smile but still tough enough to wrestle.

Pastor Art Carr called her “a special girl who touched our lives.”

After the service, an aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape indictment returned Friday by a grand jury was detailed by the prosecutor.

Jerrod Metsker, 24, has been locked up on $1 million bond and could face the death penalty if convicted. His attorney has declined to comment on the case.

Michelle Zollinger with Smithville Elementary School wrote a letter that Carr read at the service.

She wrote how the school loved Reann, and Reann loved the school. “[We] will miss your warm smile, blue eyes and warm heart,” she wrote.

“We were lucky to know you,” Zollinger wrote. “Thank you, sweetheart, for being part of our lives.”

When people saw Reann’s sweet smile, they probably thought she was like any other girl, but she was not, Carr said. “She was a special girl who touched our lives.”

Carr thanked the Wayne County sheriff’s office, firefighters and everyone else who searched for Reann on the night of Dec. 14.

“Parents should never have to bury their children,” Carr said.

According to The (Wooster) Daily Record, the congregation was told that God’s response to evil is love and sacrifice.

“In the midst of evil, God still loves and God still forgives,” said Ray Aspinall, an associate minister at the church.

Her body was found in the trash bin after a frantic search by neighbors and law enforcement after she was reported missing the previous day.

Metsker was the last person seen with the girl, a sheriff’s investigator said. Metsker later joined neighbors and relatives in a search for her, a neighbor said.

Investigators with the Wayne County sheriff’s office described Metsker as a family friend and neighbor. Capt. Douglas Hunter said Metsker has a “diminished mental capacity” but hasn’t released detailed information.

A 911 caller identifying himself as Metsker reported Reann missing.