Timothy Combs, one of two murderers of Raymond Fife, dies in prison

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Timothy A. Combs, who along with Danny Lee Hill was convicted of killing a 12-year-old boy in Warren in 1985, has died in prison, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections says.

Combs, 50, died in Franklin County on Nov. 9, the Franklin County Coroner’s Office said today.

It is not known where in Franklin County, but the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections has a medical facility in Franklin County.

It is believed Combs died from a respiratory illness.

Combs was convicted of the Sept. 10, 1985, murder, torture, kidnapping and rape of Raymond Fife in a wooded area along Palmyra Road Southwest.

Combs was not eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 2049.

Hill, 51, was sentenced to the death penalty in the case, but that penalty was overturned recently by a federal appeals court. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up an appeal filed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Hill remains in the state prison system while the matter is considered.

Miriam Fife, Raymond’s mother, who worked as a victim witness advocate for 29 years with the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office after her son’s murder, said she “would not celebrate anyone’s death. But I can rest with the fact that he will never get out to do again what he did to Raymond.”

The Franklin County Coroner’s Office said it did not conduct an autopsy on Combs’ body.