MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- Bond was set Monday morning in Middletown Municipal Court for two homeless men who are suspected of involvement in the death of a Middletown mother of nine, the Journal-News reported.
Jim Boyer, 63, and his son, Keith Boyer, 32, allegedly were in a house in the 1400 block of Yankee Road late Wednesday night when Jemita Sanders, 31, died in her kitchen.
Middletown Municipal Court Judge Melynda Cook Howard set Jim Boyer’s bond at $125,000 and appointed him an attorney since he said he has no job. Jim Boyer was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, theft and nine counts of child endangering.
Keith Boyer’s bond was $130,000, $5,000 higher because of a previous failure to appear on a drug charge, the judge said.
Their preliminary hearings were set for Dec. 27 before Judge James Sherron.
The Boyers were then returned to the Middletown City Jail.
Police responded to the residence late Wednesday night on a report of a dead body. The Boyers were in the residence for the “majority of the day,” abusing pills, heroin and alcohol with nine children, ages 1 to 14, present, according to the court complaint.
All three adults became unresponsive at some point, the complaint said. When the Boyers woke up, they allegedly took money from a wig that belonged to Sanders and from her purse.
The Boyers and the children got into an argument when the kids saw the two men stealing from their mother, according to the complaint. The two men told the children there were going across the street to buy pop, but they never returned. A loaded needle also was located in a chair within reach of the children.
The results of the autopsy haven’t been released by the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
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