“The investigation revealed that the chief had a history of not cooperating or coordinating with certain agencies such as the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, the Logan County Prosecutor’s Office and the city administration. Such behavior is unacceptable and not in concert with the desires and directives of the city administration,” Holycross said.
Kunze could not be reached Monday evening for comment.
On Feb. 11, Littleton stabbed to death Tiffany Brown, 26, his longtime girlfriend’s daughter. Her body, stashed under a woodpile in Littleton’s basement, was found Feb. 16.
Detectives wanted to place a tracking device on his pickup truck that morning before the body was found. Even though the Logan County deputy sheriff had such a device available, those working the case had to get it from an agency in Columbus — potentially delaying a track of Littleton, Holycross said.
That day, Littleton left work early and fled. He killed Dick and Gladis Russell, both in their 80s, ditched his pickup and drove off in their vehicle. His pickup was found abandoned on the evening of Feb. 16. The next day, the Russells were reported missing.
Littleton was captured Feb. 23 in West Virginia.
Despite the sequence of events, it’s not clear that had the tracking device been obtained from the sheriff, the Russells would be alive today, Holycross said.
“That is so speculative. One can do all the speculating one wishes, but that won’t change what happened. We can’t see anything that will change an outcome, but we can’t tolerate that non-cooperative stuff,” Holycross said.
Logan County Sheriff Andrew Smith said that even had his office supplied the GPS tracking device, authorities would have probably missed Littleton because he fled his workplace in Kenton early. Still, Smith said he wished relations between the agencies had been better. After Littleton fled the area, the two agencies cooperated well, Smith said.
The city was prepared to move forward with disciplinary procedures when Kunze opted to resign, Holycross said.
Lt. Ron Birt is interim chief and the Civil Service Commission will meet May 26 to OK the selection process for chief.
The internal investigation has not been released. Holycross said it was “conducted by an outside source and focused primarily on interviews with persons from numerous agencies.”
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