Investigators are asking the public for help solving a pair of cold case homicides.
As the county passes the anniversary of the crimes, the Union County Sheriff’s office is reminding the public about the unsolved killing of John E. Burnside, as well as the unrelated murder of brothers William “BJ” Channell and Brett Channell in a fire.
“We have put our cold cases out on the anniversary, so people will never forget and it gets people to think about the people that went before us tragically and a family that doesn’t have answers,” said Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton.
The sheriff said that, “in both cases, I am very confident there is somebody, or some people, who know something that will solve it.”
“It is just a question of if they will come forward and say something,” Patton said.
He said that the longer the cases remain unsolved, the more difficult it will be for people who know what happened to remain silent, either intentionally or unintentionally.
“I think it is really only going to take one right piece to help us put the puzzle together and give us a person,” Patton said.
Patton said that in the Burnside case, that on Dec. 11, 1993, the victim came home to find his home at 622 Chestnut St., had been broken into. He contacted the Marysville police Department and officer came to the scene, processed it and left.
“They left and (Burnside) was at his house when they left,” Patton said.
At some point friends and family tried to contact him, but couldn’t reach him. About 10 hours after the initial burglary call, one of those people went to the Chestnut Street home and looked into the window. The 32-year-old man was lying dead on his bed with a plastic bag taped around his head.
The coroner initially ruled the death a suicide. The man’s family had a private autopsy performed.
“The findings of the private autopsy revealed it was not suicide, but a homicide,” Patton said.
The coroner, Dr. Malcolm MacIvor, reversed his ruling and labeled the death a homicide and the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation was called to help with the investigation. The Union County Sheriff’s Office was also involved with the case, talking with people who potentially had information.
“It has just never been solved,” Patton said, adding that he stays in contact with the man’s father.
Patton said he believes Burnside was killed by someone who knew him.
“To have a break-in and then to be killed like that, I think he knew his killer,” Patton said.
Investigators believe the person or persons who killed the Channell brothers also knew the victims.
Patton said that on the night of Dec. 8, 2004, Debbie Channell along with her daughter and two sons were at their home at 10510 Fulton Creek Road, in the northeast portion of the county. The family was living at the home with the property owner, who was not home at the time of the fire.
When the home caught fire, Debbie and her daughter were able to escape. The two sons, 9-year-old William “BJ” Channell and his 8-year-old brother Brett Channell were upstairs in their bedroom.
“The two boys were not able to get out of the home and died as a result of the fire,” Patton said.
The Ohio State Fire Marshall’s Office was brought in to investigate.
“They determined the cause of fire to have been an act of arson,” Patton said. “Because that fire was a set fire, by a person, that becomes a double homicide.”
Patton said that road has very little traffic and is not the type of location where people just drive by. He said few people outside the area would have even known about, or been able to find, the home.
“Somebody had a purpose for setting that fire,” Patton said.
He added that, “extensive investigation has not resulted in an arrest.”
Patton said it is his hope that reminding the public about the crimes will cause someone to remember something they heard or saw at the time, or have seen or heard since.
Those with information are asked to call Lt. Jeff Stiers of the Union County Sheriff’s Office at (937) 645-4126 or by email at jstiers@unioncountyohio.gov.
Anonymous information may be left via voicemail on the Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip Hotline at (937) 642-7653.