COLUMBUS, Ohio — The trial for a man accused of posting videos of himself beating another man to death in 2021 is now underway.
Timothy Kendrick, 35, faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. He is accused of killing 30-year-old Drew Mendelbaum, whose beaten and burned body was found on July 17, 2021, on the 4600 block of Sawmill Road.
Officers with the Columbus Division of Police were called to a business on Sawmill Road in July 2021 after a janitor spotted what she thought was a body.
Police said Kendrick met Mendelbaum at a gas station and the two went back to Kendrick's hotel room to drink.
Police say Mendelbam had been stabbed more than 45 times, beaten and his body was set on fire. He was found burned and covered in a shower curtain with zip ties around his ankles.
He was left just outside of a business complex.
Investigators arrested Kendrick shortly after they said they found Snapchat videos of the torture.
Jurors on Tuesday saw graphic pictures of Mendelbaum's body and the inside of the hotel room where investigators say the beating took place.
“It's there, over the course of a few hours, 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., that the defendant tortures, mutilates, brutalizes, dehumanizes, demonizes the victim before finally slitting his throat and the victim finally dies,” said Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Cory Helffrich during opening arguments.
“The presumption of innocence and as he sits here right now, he is presumed innocent,” Jeffrey Blosser, defense attorney.