By Sharon Coolidge
scoolidge@enquirer.com
A 30-year-old Delhi Township man who reported his wife missing nearly a month ago is now charged in her death, accused of killing her, dismembering her body and then dumping her remains.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said authorities don’t know how Kristan Strutz, 28, was killed, but said Strutz is the killer.
A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Strutz Monday on two charges of murder, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
That indictment is in addition to a previous charge of tampering with evidence.
Strutz faces a life prison term if convicted.
“After he killed the mother of his children, he then dismembered her in an attempt to avoid detection,” Deters said. “It is unfortunate that this disgusting act does not permit us to seek the death penalty.”
Ohio law outlines 10 circumstances in which the death penalty can be sought, including specification most often used: that an offender was committing, attempting to commit or fleeing immediately after a kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery or aggravated burglary.
None apply to Kristan Strutz’s death. The murder charge was filed two ways, one alleging the homicide was premeditated, the other that the homicide happened during a felonious assault.
The tampering charges allege that Strutz tampered with human remains and the saw used to dismember Kristan Strutz.
Strutz was arrested Aug. 16 for tampering with evidence and has remained in the Hamilton County jail on $1 million bond.
Strutz’s lawyer, Simon Groner, said that Strutz denies killing his wife.
“(Strutz) says he didn’t do it, that’s his right,” Deters said. “We’ll see him in court.”
Deters outlined what happened when Kristan Strutz’s family learned she was missing.
Deters said sometime late the night Friday, Aug. 14, Strutz killed his wife, then spent the night – while their three children slept nearby – dismembering her body with a saw. Once that was done, he dumped her remains – all but her midsection – in the Dumpster behind the former Target in Western Hills.
Kristan Strutz’s family was immediately suspicious that something was wrong.
She was supposed to go shopping Aug. 15 with her aunts for a bridal shower happening the next day. When she failed to show and failed to answer repeated phone calls, Kristan Strutz’s family went to her Greenwell Avenue home.
There, they had to press Strutz to file a missing person’s report.
“They almost had to shame him into calling police,” Deters said.
He called 911, where he gave a rambling account of his day, in which he contradicted himself, raising the suspicious of Delhi officers.
They asked to search his home, which he allowed. And the couple’s two vehicles were impounded, Deters said.
In the search, Kristan Strutz’s midsection was recovered. Tissue and bone fragments were found in the yard.
“He had no ability then to get rid of the last body part,” Deters said. “He ran out of time.”
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