Keiter pleads not guilty in Kettering-Trotwood case where father was dismembered

Judge Mary Montgomery entered the not guilty pleas for Keiter Jr. on all six counts, said Suzan Burnside, a court judicial assistant. Bond, which was set at $1 million last week, is now $500,000, she said.

Public defender Michael Dailey was assigned Tuesday to represent Keiter Jr., Burnside said. A message left for Dailey was not immediately returned.

The case has been assigned to Judge Elizabeth Ellis and a scheduling conference is set for May 28, Burnside said.

Kettering Police Chief Chip Protsman said last week investigators believe the elder Keiter was killed in his Croftshire Drive home in Kettering, where Trotwood and Kettering police responded April 26.

Keiter Sr. died April 22, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. While the coroner has not ruled on a cause of death, Protsman said he believes it was a homicide.

Protsman would not specify who may face homicide-related charges.

The case has involved police in Fairborn, Kettering and Trotwood along with the south suburban Tactical Crime and Suppression Unit, and aided by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Protsman said.

The chief asked anyone with information to call detective Amy Pedro at 937-296-2460.

Keiter Sr.’s body was identified by Trotwood police using a serial number from a knee replacement surgery from one of the legs found April 22, Protsman said.

The rest of the body was found in a storage unit in the 1700 block of Guenther Road in Trotwood near the Dayton border, about four miles from where the legs were found.

Fairborn police stopped Keiter Jr.’s pickup truck on May 1 after an alert for it was issued the day before, Protsman said. Two people were inside, he said, but neither were Keiter Jr.

The pair were “associates, friends” of Keiter Jr., Protsman said. They have not been charged and their identities have not been released.

Keiter Jr. was arrested May 1 at his Dayton residence for felony theft charges related to appliances and items stolen from his father’s apartment, he said.