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Former Cincinnati morgue worker accused of abusing two more corpses
By Lisa Cornwell
Associated Press
Published on Friday, Feb 27, 2009
CINCINNATI: A former morgue worker already in prison for having sex with a body awaiting autopsy was indicted Thursday on two more charges of sexually abusing corpses.
The latest charges against 55-year-old Kenneth Douglas of Cincinnati accuse him of assaulting two women's bodies at the Hamilton County morgue in 1991.
Douglas, an attendant at the morgue from 1976-92, was convicted last year of having sex with the body of a 19-year-old murder victim in 1982. He is serving a three-year prison sentence, which includes 18 months for corpse abuse and 18 months for a parole violation on an unrelated drug conviction.
Prosecutor Joe Deters said the case is ''just beyond belief'' and that the new charges are based on DNA testing. He said there is not enough DNA evidence left to determine whether more corpses may have been abused.
''Back then, they didn't realize the significance of saving that kind of evidence,'' he said.
Deters said he suspects Douglas had more victims in the 16 years he worked at the county morgue.
''I'm sure there are more,'' Deters said. ''I'm certain of it, but we'll never be able to prove it.''
The numbers Douglas gave investigators in interviews ranged from one victim to possibly over 100, Deters said.
Douglas' attorney, Norman Aubin, said he hadn't seen the new evidence and would confer with Douglas after he studies the charges.
A grand jury indicted Douglas on two counts of gross abuse of a corpse for allegedly sexually assaulting the bodies of Charlene Edwards, 23, and Angel Hicks, 24, both of Cincinnati.
Edwards was strangled in October 1991. Mark Chambers, convicted of voluntary manslaughter in her death, was released on parole in 2000.
Hicks died of a blunt impact to the head. Her death was ruled a homicide, but the defendant in that case was found not guilty at trial.
The first corpse abuse case against Douglas involved 19-year-old Karen Range, who was murdered in her Cincinnati home. David Steffen, a door-to-door salesman, was convicted in 1983 of rape and aggravated murder.
Steffen acknowledged stabbing Range, but always denied that he raped her, saying he attempted to but was physically unable. A DNA test — not available at the time he was tried — confirmed in 2007 that he had not raped her.
Meanwhile, Douglas was convicted of the drug trafficking offense last year and was ordered to provide a DNA sample, as required by Ohio law. That sample matched the 1982 sample from Range, prosecutors said.
Steffen has been on death row for the 1982 killing. Earlier this month, though, a judge ordered a new sentencing hearing, agreeing with the defense that his death sentence should be reconsidered now that he has been exonerated of rape. The state has appealed that ruling.
The maximum sentence Douglas could receive if convicted of the new charges is 18 months on each one. Deters said he supports an Ohio bill to increase the prison sentence for necrophilia to five years.
CINCINNATI: A former morgue worker already in prison for having sex with a body awaiting autopsy was indicted Thursday on two more charges of sexually abusing corpses.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 03:48 AM, 02/27/2009
Too sick....Huuuh! those who commits necrophilia really needs help badly. That worst as doing to child rape.
Akron, OH
Posted 05:45 AM, 02/27/2009
This has been in the news before. It ws sick then, it is sick now.
Must be a slow news day at the ABJ.
Posted 06:46 AM, 02/27/2009
Yes I agree that this really sick.But how does one assault a corpse?
Posted 08:03 AM, 02/27/2009
Betamax, new charges were filed yesterday. The news from AP has been up as it happens.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:37 AM, 02/27/2009
@ Dan - I appreciate that Dan. But as far as I'm concerned, whether he has sex with one corpse or two hundred, it's still sick and it's still the same guy bein' prosecuted, and it's still the same story.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 08:42 AM, 02/27/2009
I never liked the guy, he was a stiff.
Posted 10:39 AM, 02/27/2009
Sick f _ _ k!
