NEWS
Township police will ask the Montgomery County prosecutor's office for aggravated murder and aggravated robbery charges with gun specifications against the two, Sgt. John DiPietro said. The juvenile could be charged as an adult.
The aggravated murder charges can carry the death penalty, he said. "That will be left up to (prosecutor) Mat Heck's office."
The 18-year-old was identified as Bryan Keith Singleton, 1793 Mars Hill Drive, West Carrollton.
Police said two .22-caliber shots to the temple killed West Carrollton resident Margaret "Peggy" Chains, 57, an 18-year employee of Sun Oil Co.
Her body was found at 4:40 a.m. in the "cashier's cage" next to the safe at the rear of the store at Ohio 741 and Alex-Bell Road. The bulletproof window was open. Chain was working alone
Singleton was graduated in 1996 from West Carrollton High School, where he played for the Pirates basketball team and was involved in a video promoting nonviolence, according to his homeroom adviser, teacher Kathy Lakes.
The 16-year-old is not being identified because he has not been formally charged.
DiPietro said a third arrest could be made, although he said he believes the prime suspects are in jail.
Police recovered a .22-caliber Derringer handgun at an undisclosed location along with "a lot of other evidence," DiPietro said.
Moraine police officers apprehended the 16-year-old at 6:10 a.m. Friday on Dixie Highway near the Red Horse Inn and Frisch's, Moraine Police Chief Dave Hicks said.
The youth's address is listed as "at-large" and he is believed to have been staying at area motels, a police official said.
DiPietro said investigators worked around the clock since the shooting. "To draw the picture here, you're getting tips coming into the department, you're talking to witnesses; everything kept branching out," he said. "It was a rapidly developing case.
"People using the anonymous phone line and other telephone calls absolutely helped police solve this crime."
While the youth was being questioned, the 18-year-old was picked up Friday afternoon and was ordered to appear for questioning, which he did, accompanied by his mother.
"Once he started talking and the mother figured out what was going on" the woman became ill and was removed by ambulance to a local hospital, DiPietro said.
"That's the sad thing about this case," he said. "There's a lot more victims. There's the family of the deceased and the family of the suspects. These kids are doing one of the worst crimes that can be committed in a one-split-second act that affects so many lives."
DiPietro said early investigation didn't point to robbery as the motive because large amounts of cash were left on the counter and floor. Sun Oil Co. determined money to be missing, and that part of the investigation is continuing, DiPietro said.
Why the two left so much behind intrigues investigators. "Maybe they were scared off," DiPietro said. "Or maybe they might have realized what they'd done and had to get out of the store."
Information is still sought, DiPietro, because "there are a couple of loose ends." Call police at 433-4400 or anonymously at 434-TIPS.
West Carrollton High School teacher Kathy Lakes was shaken when told of Singleton's arrest.
"I knew him as a really troubled but good kid," Lakes said. "This was a side of him I didn't know."
Lakes said Singleton was "skirting between being suspended or bragging he was on the honor roll. In his senior year he was on the honor roll all year."
Lakes said that, the day after he graduated, Singleton had written a poem thanking her and "stuck it in my car window."
"This is the first time any kid I've had has gone totally astray," Lakes said.