Fairfield families wait for justice

Vicky Fible and Dave Markham share the same frustration. They want to know why Fairfield police haven't made arrests in their daughters' deaths.

Two years have passed since 15-year-old Chelsea Johnson was found stabbed to death in a Fairfield creek bed, while a man who police say traded the teen heroin for sex the day she vanished is sitting in an Ohio prison. He hasn't been charged in Johnson's death.

August will mark the third anniversary of Katelyn Markham's disappearance from her home in Fairfield. Most of her skeletal remains were found along a stream in Cedar Grove, Indiana, in April 2013.

The same week in April that Chelsea's mom staged a protest on the courthouse steps to bring attention to her daughter's unsolved case, Markham's family and friends discovered more of what is believed to be the 21-year-old art student's bones along the same Indiana stream.

The Fairfield Police Department – 58 officers including four detectives – has two other unsolved homicides on its hands.

• Joseph Oakley, 19, was found shot to death near the same creek bed as Chelsea in August 2012.

• Damien Taylor, 29, was fatally shot at a Winton Road apartment complex in March 2012.

Both Oakley and Chelsea were students at Options Academy.

"I wash my hands of Fairfield police. That's why I begged the sheriff to come on board," Fible said.

Dave Markham's annoyance is more reserved.

"It gets more and more frustrating every day," he said. "It's hard not to say that they haven't done enough. I'd like to see some results."

Fairfield Police Chief Michael Dickey and Mayor Steve Miller said investigators are doing the best they can.

The unsolved homicides do not mean Fairfield's police department is substandard, Miller said.

"I have full confidence in our police department. Sometimes the investigations take time," Miller said. "I think everybody feels sorry for the losses that these families have sustained. We all grieve with them because nobody wants to see that happen to anyone."

Dickey said he understands the frustration.

"The issue is not making an immediate arrest. The issue we go through is beginning with the end in mind. We look for the conviction," he said.

In the Markham case, Indiana State Police took over the investigation after Markham's body was found in Cedar Grove. Dickey said his agency doesn't consider Markham's case an unsolved Fairfield homicide because her body was found in Indiana. But Fairfield officers continue to work on the case, he said.

Indiana State Police detectives are actively investigating. "But there have been no major breakthroughs or additional leads in several months," said Indiana State Police Sgt. Noel Houze.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office last week took Fible up on her request to review her daughter's case to see if they can make any progress. Fairfield investigators and sheriff's detectives are working together, Dickey said.

Chelsea's grandfather Phil Johnson said his family decided they had enough in recent weeks. Fairfield police had told them the case was headed for a grand jury and an arrest would come quickly. That didn't happen. Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser decided police needed more evidence, Dickey said.

"They say they are so close to making an arrest and naming the perpetrator. But then the prosecution office says, 'No you're not.' We got tired of the finger-pointing going back and forth, back and forth," Johnson said.

So they went public with a protest.

Chelsea was stabbed to death on April 15, 2012. Her body was found the following day in a creek behind an apartment building on Brookfield Drive.

George Donald Davis II, 26, is in prison until January 2016, following guilty pleas to charges of heroin trafficking and importuning involving Chelsea.

At the time of his arrest, Fairfield police officials said Davis was among a list of "persons of interest" in Chelsea's death. Police also have said they believe Chelsea knew her attacker. Johnson said Chelsea occasionally babysat for Davis. Police won't discuss a suspect.

Fible said she won't stop pushing until a suspect is arrested in her daughter's death.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to get something done and if everybody hates me for it, so be it," she said. "Who wouldn't do that for their child? It's about justice for Chelsea." ⬛

Vicky Fible says the Fairfield police have not properly done their job in investigating the killing of her 15 year-old daughter Chelsea Johnson. Two years since her death no arrests have been made.