Ohio man charged with killing 2, kidnapping 1

Associated Press

ASHLAND, OHIO

A man arrested at a house where two bodies were found was charged Thursday with two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping.

Christopher Grate is charged with killing Stacey Stanley and a second unidentified woman whose body was found in the home. Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell has said officials are working to identify a third body found in a house in neighboring Richland County.

Additional charges could be filed, Tunnell said. It’s unclear whether Grate, 40, has an attorney or when his first court appearance will take place.

Grate was arrested Tuesday morning after a woman called 911 and said she had been tied up but had partly freed herself in a bedroom while her captor slept in the same room.

The woman said the man had a stun gun, and she was afraid of waking him. She had known him for about a month and a half, she told the dispatcher. The kidnapping charge includes a specification that Grate had allegedly abducted her “to engage in sexual activity.”

Ashland police said officers found the kidnap victim and Grate at a home that was supposed to be unoccupied. Investigators also found the remains of two bodies there, Chief David Marcelli said.

The coroner hasn’t determined how Stanley died or identified the second body, Ashland police said.