The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office said an arrest has been made after a woman was found dead in a shallow grave at Alum Creek State Park last week.
Twenty-four-year-old John David Choe Bartholomew has been charged with murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
An officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources found what appeared to be a shallow grave near the pull-off area of the park on July 4.
The woman was identified as 28-year-old Brittany D. McDowell. The cause of death was gunshot wounds.
The sheriff’s office said a tip led detectives to consider Bartholomew as a suspect. They do not believe any other people were involved.
10TV also talked with McDowell’s family, Tuesday.
“I feel better, but it’s just not over with yet, you know,” Brittany’s father, Bob McDowell said. “We don’t know what all happened. So, we’ll find out, I guess.”
It’s the first time McDowell has talked about his daughter.
“She was a good person,” he said. “She didn’t deserve to have that happen to her.”
McDowell says his daughter had recently given up her addiction to heroin and was trying to turn her life around.
“It had to be a deranged person, that’s all I can say,” McDowell’s grandmother, Sharon Halley said.
Halley says she’s still coming to terms with her loved one’s death and the man arrested for allegedly killing her.
“Someday, he’s going to grow up, maybe, if he ever gets out of jail and he’s going to have a daughter or he’s going to have a sister,” she said. “How would he feel if that was done to them what he done to [Brittany]? People don’t respect human life no more. God gives it and people take it.”
Sheriff Russell Martin says Bartholomew should be arraigned soon. McDowell’s family says all they can do is push forward and keep pushing for justice for Brittany.
“God’s grace,” Halley said. “That’s all you can do because she’s not here. What else do you do?”
