Friday, May 2nd, 2014
Celina man arrested in 1981 murder
Detectives seek third suspect in area slaying
By Shelley Grieshop
ST. MARYS - A 51-year-old Celina man is the second person to be arrested in less than five months for the stabbing death of a local farmer 33 years ago.
Tracy W. Mabry, 8673 U.S. 33, was indicted by an Auglaize County grand jury and charged with one count of aggravated murder, an unspecified felony, for the death of Marcellus Reineke, 71, in St. Marys, in October 1981.
Mabry appeared in court Thursday afternoon and was placed on a $1 million cash surety bond. He was booked into the county jail, where he remains.
The indictment does not include a death-penalty specification. Authorities would not reveal the maximum sentence Mabry faces.
Auglaize County Prosecutor Ed Pierce and St. Marys Police Chief Mark Ernst on Thursday issued a brief joint press release about the case, noting they would not field any additional questions at this time.
Pierce and Ernst said the investigation is continuing as authorities seek "another person of interest." Anyone with information about Reineke's murder is encouraged to call the St. Marys Police Department at 419-394-2325.
Former St. Marys resident Paul Leroy Hoover, 52, of Florida, will be sentenced May 28 for involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony, for his part in Reineke's death. Hoover last month agreed to plead guilty to the charge in a plea agreement that dismissed the indictment's charge of aggravated murder.
The initial charge carried a penalty of life in prison. Hoover faces up to 25 years in prison. He remains incarcerated in the county jail. Pierce, for an earlier story, said visiting Judge Reginald Joseph Routson of Hancock County could impose four to 25 years in prison based on the law in effect when the murder took place. The same crime today would carry a maximum of 11 years in prison, he said.
Hoover was arrested Dec. 13 in Eustis, Fla., and waived extradition to Ohio.
Court records state Hoover repeatedly stabbed Reineke in the heart and chest while seeking the location of money and valuables in the elderly man's home at 229 S. West St., St. Marys. After killing Reineke, Hoover and other unknown accomplices attempted to set a bed on fire to hide evidence, authorities said.
Old coins and other valuables reportedly were missing when Reineke's body was found two days later by a concerned relative.
Reineke was a local farmer who retired in 1972 and moved into the city. He reportedly was living alone at the time he was killed.
