The triple homicide that claimed the life of one Ohio State student and two others in the university district remains unsolved.
Kayla Hurst, 21, Eric Hlass, 22, and Aaron Grexa, 23, were found dead at 235 E. 11th Ave. on July 23.
Hurst, an OSU student from Granville, Ohio, was dating Grexa, a Pennsylvania native and a local disc jockey. Hlass, a native of Arkansas, lived with Grexa in the house where they were found.
Grexa hoped to attend OSU and study business in the spring. Hurst was already a junior in English.
LaWanda Hlass, Eric’s mother, told The Lantern Hlass said he wanted to move someplace safer after he received two more paychecks.
“I talked to him on Monday and they killed him on Tuesday,” Lawanda Hlass said days after the murder. “He said he lived in a dangerous place.”
The three victims were bound by electrical wire and shot execution-style. Grexa and Hurst were shot several times while Hlass was shot just once.
Brandon Connors, a roommate of Grexa and Hlass, found them when he arrived home around noon and called 911.
Gunshots had been heard the night before around 11:30 p.m. The victim’s neighbor William Tammadge, 25, told The Lantern he heard four gunshots while standing on a porch behind the victim’s house.
Tammadge said two middle-aged black males ran from the victim’s back door, down the alley and split up along the way.
Nancy Berry, 229 E. 11th Ave., was home the night of the murders but said she did not hear anything.
“It amazes me because I have three dogs, and they didn’t bark or anything. It was like it was nothing out of the ordinary for them,” Berry said. “Considering in this neighborhood though, you hear gunfire quite frequently – almost every night actually.”
There was speculation from community members of drugs being involved, said Sgt. Brent Mull, spokesman for the Columbus Division of Police.
“When you are that far east in a neighborhood, if everyone knows there are drugs in your house, then you open yourself up to a whole line of crimes, and one of them is homicide,” he said.
Another neighbor, Haatim Gyenyame, 253 E. 11 Ave, said people in the area assume the murders was about drugs. He also said he did not hear anything unusual the night of the shooting.
“You hear so many gunshots around here,” Gyenyame said. “Maybe not every day but often enough that if you hear a gunshot it wouldn’t suprise you.”
Ron Bivens, 1521 Hamlet St., lives behind the victim’s house. He said he always saw the victims when he would pass their house to go to the store.
“They would say hi to me, and they seemed like very nice kids,” Bivens said. “The police and detectives came over here, and I told them I didn’t hear anything. I just don’t understand; they were good kids.”
Neighbors of the students say the neighborhood has quieted down since the tragedy.
Mull said no arrests have been made in this case. He said he is not aware of any suspects at the present time.
Detective Amy Morris of the Columbus Division of Police said the investigation is moving slowly.
“We are not getting as many tips as we used to,” she said. “Each time we get a tip it has to be investigated, and we are not getting enough information to investigate it fully. Someone may call in and say ‘So-and-so did it,’ and all they will leave is a first name. That will do us absolutely no good.”
Morris said there was no way of knowing for sure when this case will be solved.
“The investigation continues,” Mull said. “There are no breakthroughs yet, but hopefully we will have one soon.”
Bill Hall, vice president of Student Affairs, said he and others, including President Karen Holbrook and Mayor Michael Coleman, have been meeting over the summer to develop ways to deal with crime in the university district.
