One week later the police chief resigned. Within weeks, the second-in-command was fired.
Unleashed in the report were 15 years of departmental wrongdoing, allegations, rumors and innuendo. People were named and details exposed.
It was embarrassing and a morale buster. Police officers felt guilt by association and public trust in the department suffered.
One year later: April 8, 1997.
Miami Twp. detectives working around the clock since April 3 have jailed two teens they believe killed Sunoco Mini Mart manager Margaret `Peggy' Chain.
One of the youths, 18-year-old Bryan Keith Singleton, was indicted by a grand jury and could receive the death penalty if convicted of the crime.
The other teen, Jacob Agee, 16, is in juvenile detention and is expected to face charges as an adult after a probable cause hearing.
The quick, competent handling of this tragedy by Miami Twp. police proved a lot to much of the department and to the people who rely on its protection.
One officer criticized in last year's report has felt the sting of criticism and the pride of competency.
Lt. Keith Swihart received a five-day suspension last year as a result of findings by the sheriff's office.
A year later he was acting chief during the Chain murder investigation.
"The department is definitely on an upward move," Swihart said. "Things have totally turned around."
Swihart credits interim Chief Joe Spitler for focusing the department in the aftermath of the report, and Chief Chris Krug for instilling integrity and encouraging open dialogue.
Spitler, on loan from the Montgomery County Sheriff's office, stayed in Miami Twp. for several months until Krug was hired in November.
Swihart admits he was part of the problem.
"I think officers may not have had that much confidence in the command staff, me being a member of that command staff," he said.
Confidence was far from lacking April 3, when dispatchers received word of a possible robbery and personal injury at the Sunoco at Ohio 741 and Alex-Bell Road.
Swihart could not turn to Krug, who was vacationing with his wife in Florida.
"When Keith called me, the cop in me wanted to be back," Krug said. "The chief in me said it was a great time to be gone."
Krug said his absence "gave me the chance to see how these folks performed; what they were made of."
He said Chain's family and her employer have praised his department's work.
Detective Sgt. Robert Burling said leads supplied by the public and an organized investigation propelled the capture of the two suspects.
The victim's daughter, Lynn Chain, was told soon after her mother's slaying that there was little evidence leading to her mother's killers.
"The officer said the chances of solving this were slim," Chain said.
That was before the phones started ringing and people began supplying information.
By Friday night - less than 48 hours after the murder - Singleton and Agee were in custody and behind bars.
The investigation began shortly after 4:40 a.m. April 3 when three regular customers discovered Mrs. Chain's body and raced across the street to Denver's Marathon for help.
A cashier at Denver's returned to Sunoco and tried unsuccessfully to rouse Chain by banging on the opened bullet-resistent cashier's window. She called 911 and a Miami Twp. officer was dispatched to the scene.
By sunrise, investigators weren't sure what they had, but their first guess wasn't murder.
"It was hard to tell if it was homicide," Miami Twp. Detective Sgt. Robert E. Burling said.
Some suspected Chain might have suffered a medical problem and fallen against the open safe, gashing her head.
It wasn't until the body was moved that it became apparent small-caliber bullets had penetrated her skull at point-blank range.
Also, the scene was not typical of a robbery - money was everywhere.
It wasn't long until detectives were receiving leads. People were questioned and more information came forth.
Then, the investigation seemed to break wide open.
Burling said the department received more than 50 calls, many of them made using a much-publicized anonymous tips line.
"We started receiving tips from the public," Burling said. "It was the type of thing, (where) you interview one person and you learn more and follow up on those leads. That's basically what the whole investigation was."
Burling said apprehending Singleton and Agee was a "dedicated effort of the detective section, police officers, the public, Moraine and West Carrollton police, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab, and Sunoco representatives. Everybody came together as one."
Krug said his department has recovered what it lost a year ago.
"They did their jobs. They did it without me looking over their shoulders," he said. "They did what they're supposed to do. They acted professionally."
CHRONOLOGY
* Thursday, April 3
- 4:30 a.m. - Margaret `Peggy' Chain last seen
- 4:38 a.m. - Miami Twp. Police dispatcher receives a 911 call from a cashier at Denver's Marathon across from Sunoco; Chain's body had been found in the rear of the store in the cashier's cage by three regular customers; they run to Marathon for help.
- 4:56 a.m. - Chain is pronounced dead.
* Friday, April 4
- 6:10 a.m. - Moraine and West Carrollton police assist Miami Twp. police and pick up 16-year-old Jacob Agee for questioning at a Moraine doughnut shop on South Dixie Drive.
- Afternoon - 18-year-old Bryan Keith Singleton is questioned by Miami Twp. detectives. With him are his parents. Singleton makes a confession to detectives Todd Comer and Scott Moore.
- Late afternoon - Agee and Singleton are taken to Montgomery County Juvenile Detention Center and county jail, respectively, on a 48-hour holding order.
* Sunday, April 6
- Afternoon - Provisional charges of aggravated murder are filed against Singleton, allowing him to be held in jail until formal charges can be filed Monday; bail is set at $1 million cash.
* Monday, April 7
- Singleton and Agee are formally charged with aggravated murder with firearm specifications and aggravated robbery; Singleton also is charged with firearm possession while being under indictment for a 1996 felonious assault.
* Wednesday, April 9
- Grand jury hears prosecutors' case against Singleton.
* Friday, April 11
- Grand jury indicts Singleton on four counts, including aggravated murder with a deadly weapon and three aggravating circumstances; aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon; aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon; and having weapons while under disability. Because of the aggravated circumstances, Singleton could be sentenced to the death penalty if found guilty.