Weik of West Chester was reported missing by her mother on July 29. On Friday, police found a body in a Liberty Twp. field.
Michael A. Strouse, 29, of 6054 Bluffs Dr. in Liberty Township, was charged at about 4 a.m. with the murder of Weik, according to Barb Wilson, township spokesperson.
Wilson could not confirm this morning that the body found at 6451 Millikin Road in Liberty Twp. Friday afternoon is Weik.
The search for the missing woman led police to the field on Friday, according to West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog.
Strouse was convicted in 2015 of public indecency for exposing himself to a woman in Voice of America shopping center. He was placed on one year probation and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow up treatment, according to Butler County court records.
Herzog said Friday his officers would be “following up feverishly” throughout the night to search for additional evidence that might connect the body to Weik or to another crime.
The chief said tips led authorities to the Millikin Road location.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, FBI and Butler County Sheriff’s Office assisted, Herzog said.
BCI and the Butler County Coroner’s Office will work to identify the body, the chief said.
UPDATE Aug. 25 @ 8:14 a.m.:
A man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a 23-year-old West Chester Twp. woman, our partners at WCPO-TV report.
Michael Strouse, 29, was arrested Saturday morning for the murder of Ellen Weik, missing since July 29.
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A search for the missing woman led police to a body found in a Liberty Twp. field Friday, but the body has not been identified by the Butler County Coroner as Weik.
FIRST REPORT:
A search for a missing 23-year-old West Chester Twp. woman Friday led police to a body found in a Liberty Twp. field.
West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog would not confirm whether the body found was that of Ellen Weik, who disappeared July 29 from her West Chester Twp. home. Her mother reported Weik missing Aug. 1, Herzog stated in a news release issued Friday night.
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Herzog said his officers would be “following up feverishly” throughout the night to search for additional evidence that connects the body to Weik or to another crime, Herzog told a reporter from our media partner WCPO-TV in Cincinnati during a news conference.
The chief said tips led authorities to 6451 Millikin Road in Liberty Twp., where a search involving helicopters, drones and officers on foot uncovered the body in a wooded area near the field.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, FBI and Butler County Sheriff’s Office assisted, Herzog said.
BCI and the Butler County Coroner’s Office will work to identify the body, the chief said.
“We’re doing what we can to follow up,” he told a WCPO reporter.
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