Shivley murder suspect indicted

TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) - A Lucas County grand jury has indicted a man in the August 2009 death of Jennifer Shively.

Rodney D. Wahl, Sr., 39, was charged Thursday afternoon with two counts of aggravated murder and one count of murder for the death of the East Toledo woman.

Detectives said Wahl is serving a six-month prison sentence at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker for driving without a license.

Wahl, of East Toledo, is divorced, has three children and an extensive criminal history, police said.

Ms. Shively's body was found at Lamberjacks Marina in the Village of Oak Harbor on Aug. 25, 2009. She had been strangled and was bound and weighted down in the water. Carroll Township police said two jet-skiers found her body floating near the mouth of Lake Erie.

"It was definitely a shocking find for Ottawa county," Toledo Police Det. Jeff Clark said. "A brutal murder. Very senseless."The 26-year-old mother of five had been in the water for up to two weeks, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said, but based on the Lucas County Coroner's autopsy, she had died before she was inserted into the water.

Toledo police detectives said Wahl is responsible for the death of Ursula Graves. Detectives said Ms. Graves' body was found on Sept. 11, 2009, in an apartment complex on Graham Street. Police initially thought she had died from a drug overdose.

Ms. Graves, 42, was a mother of six children.

Detectives, though, don't believe Ms. Shively and Ms. Graves knew each other. The lead detective in the cold case, Det. Clark, said Ms. Graves was potentially a witness in the Shively investigation.

Detectives handling the Shively case found out Wahl was in that condo when emergency crews arrived.

He's was also believed to be the last person to see Shively alive.

Wahl then became a suspect in both cases.

Ms. Graves' death transformed into a murder investigation.

"The belief is, and evidence support it, he did indeed shoot her up with heroin that killed her," Det. Clark said of Ms. Graves.

Wahl is believed to have dated both woman at some point.

"He was supposed to love her but I don't call this love," said Shively's mother Esther Swope.

On Thursday the Shively family asked for the death penalty, if Wahl is convicted. The family says Wahl was a control freak and he was violent toward Jennifer when the two were dating.  Now they want him to pay for what police say he has done.

That was my baby, my only sister, I don't know how to feel," said Shively's brother Raymond Smith.
 

"He's rotten," said Michelle Smith. "He's left a lot of children out there without their mother and that's a shame."

The suspect is expected to be transferred from CCNO to the Lucas County Jail in Toledo.He will be arraigned in Lucas County Common Pleas Court March 10.

Wahl will remain inside the county jail while he awaits a trial date.

FOX Toledo News reporters Michelle Zepeda and Sharia Davis contributed to this report