Ohio homicide investigator charged with tampering, falsification

FREMONT, Ohio (AP) — A former Ohio sheriff’s detective accused of mishandling a homicide investigation is charged with felony evidence-tampering and misdemeanors including coercion and falsification.

Sean O’Connell resigned as a Sandusky County investigator last year and was indicted last week on charges including dereliction of duty and obstructing official business. The attorney general’s office says an unrelated felony charge accuses the 53-year-old Fremont man of misusing a law enforcement database.

O’Connell was arrested. The charges mostly relate to O’Connell’s investigation of the beating and shooting of 28-year-old Heather Bogle. Her body was found in her car trunk in Clyde in April 2015.

After different investigators took over the murder case, a suspect was charged this year and pleaded not guilty.