“She was just murdered for absolutely no reason at all and just left there like she was a piece of trash,” Kelly Yeaney said. “It’s just wrong.”
Yeaney is a Dayton Parks and Forestry employee who was cutting grass in the area when she noticed the police cars.
The victim’s identity has not been released by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, but investigators believe she was going to work because a bus driver and some passengers recognized her.
“She really couldn’t defend herself at that age,” passenger Rose Oyeyem of Dayton said. “My heart goes out to her.”
Sgt. Richard Blommel of the Dayton Police Department’s homicide division said they have no suspects in the killing. “There’s absolutely no reason,” he said.
Police are looking for the driver of a newer model Chevy, possibly a Chevy Cruz for questioning.
Police were sent to the scene near Mound Street shortly before 6 a.m. after the driver saw the woman lying face down on the sidewalk as he was going about his usual route.
The city of Dayton has had 18 homicides in 2013, with three of those happening this week. It’s the seemingly random nature of this murder that has police eager to catch the shooter, according to Blommel.
“We want this one,” he said.
The mood was heavy surrounding the crime scene. “There’s no reason to do that to anybody,” Yeaney said. “Just a poor little lady going to the bus stop.”
Yeaney placed four purple roses at the site of the homicide in tribute to the victim. “She’s somebody’s grandmother or something,” she said.
Police attempted to locate the woman’s family but discovered that she lived alone and didn’t seem to have many acquaintances. They are hoping surveillance cameras near the crime scene were rolling.
“They’re going to view camera footage from the surrounding buildings, hoping we can locate a suspect,” Coleman said.
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