The death of an Ohio State student, found shot and burned in the basement of an off-campus apartment, has been ruled a homicide by the Columbus Division of Police.

Charles W. Ballard, 22, a senior mechanical engineering major from the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, was shot once in the head, chest, and abdomen, according to Franklin County Coroner William R. Adrion.

Ballard was found shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday in the basement of his 328 E. 17th Ave. residence, said Dana Farbacher, a homicide detective for the police division.

The house in which Ballard was found was divided into three apartments. Ballard lived alone on the bottom floor of the house. The two other apartments on the second floor were vacant. The basement of the building housed a washer and dryer for the three apartments and served as storage space. The back door of the house provided access to the basement as well as an interior entrance to Ballard’s apartment.

Leo Felix, a senior mechanical engineering student and close friend of Ballard’s, was the last to see Ballard before the slaying.

“I left his house on Tuesday around 3:30 a.m. He seemed normal,” he said. “He didn’t speak of any problems, other than the one’s most students have, like money, being in debt, and finishing school.”

Felix said usually received a call from Ballard around 7 a.m., asking him for a ride to an 8:30 material science engineering class they both took, Farbacher said. When the call didn’t come, Felix grew suspicious and visited Ballard’s residence. The back door to the house was standing open when he arrived. Felix searched the apartment and couldn’t find Ballard, so he contacted the police.

“There were no signs of forced entry,” Farbacher said.

Upon conducting their search, police found Ballard’s body at the foot of the basement stairs, beside a washer and dryer, Farbacher said.

“Initially, the condition of the body made it unclear whether or not it was a suicide or a homicide possibly made to look like one,” he said.

Ballard’s body was found lying on top of some paper, which was partially burned. The bottom half of his body suffered severe burns but burns on his torso from the ignition of his clothes were less severe, Farbacher said.

The fire also scorched the open basement door and a nearby chair. Farbacher said he didn’t believe that Ballard was tied to the chair and the body seemed to show no signs of struggle.

Arson investigators found no trace of liquid accelerants and the detective is still unsure whether the fire was set intentionally.Farbacher said the number and position of the shots led him to declare Ballard’s death a homicide, which autopsy reports confirmed Saturday.

The detective said the time of death has not yet been established.

A gun that was found at the scene was pinned between Ballard and the papers on the floor, Farbacher said. “There was a firearm there, but I don’t believe it was used in the homicide,” he said. “It may have been his. We will have to do more tests on the gun before we get more definitive information.”

Farbacher said he didn’t find any evidence that would lead him to believe that Ballard was intoxicated or under the influence of any substance.Jeff Robertson, a nearby resident, said he didn’t hear anything that night. “I wasn’t sure that anyone actually lived there. I thought it was being fixed up.”

Felix, along with Kenny Boyette and Bobby Jackson, three close friends of Ballard since 1995, drove a moving van to his apartment on Saturday to pick up the rest of his belongings.

“This is never going to sit right with me,” Felix said as he loaded boxes into the van.

“It’s hard being here, but you feel like you have to look around to see if you can explain it,” said Jackson, a 1998 criminology graduate of OSU. “I don’t understand. Charles was just a little guy, a good 130 pounds. I had some furniture in storage that I wasn’t using, so I loaned it to him. Then I hear that he was killed and I see it on the news and I think, ‘That can’t be possible, I just saw him.'”

“He was a laid back, quiet guy. We’ve been friends since our freshman year. Leo and I were his roommates,” said Boyette, a senior electrical engineering student. “I used to use this stuff every day,” he said, looking over his friends possessions.

“Charles was very non-aggressive and mild mannered,” said his father, Juaneal. “We are all shocked unmercifully about this. He was a good kid. You always hear about kids lettering in sports in high school. Charles got an academic letter for math.”

Ballard was a 1995 graduate of Shaker Heights High School and had was a student at OSU since 1995. He was also an employee of CallTech, a Columbus business that helps companies use the Internet to communicate with their customers.

Flowers have been left on the porch of the 17th Avenue residence in memory of Ballard. Lit candles on the steps burn through the night.Blue ribbons, possibly a symbol for the desire to end school violence, hang around nearby trees.

Farbacher said there are currently no suspects and no known motive, but evidence collected at the scene is being examined.