Wednesday, June 25th, 2025
Houser sentenced to life for 2023 murder
By Abigail Miller
VAN WERT- A 39-year-old Mercer County man was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court for the 2023 alleged murder of a 43-year-old Van Wert woman.
Ryan E. Houser, Celina, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, contingent on the possibility of parole, on one count of murder, an unclassified felony.
He entered a no contest plea to the sole count in March, and then filed a motion to withdraw his plea at a scheduled sentencing hearing in May.
The motion was denied earlier this month by county common pleas judge Martin D. Burchfield for several noted reasons, based on a nine-point review used by appellate courts to review a trial court's decision on denying or granting a motion to withdraw a plea.
The charges stem from the killing of Barbara Ganger, who was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in her Van Wert apartment in September 2023.
Houser was indicted in November 2023 by a grand jury on one count of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony; tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; and possessing a weapon under a disability, a third-degree felony.
The remaining charges were dismissed as a part of the March plea agreement.
Officers were called to Ganger's apartment on Sept. 4, 2023, for a welfare check but received no answer after several attempts to contact her at the residence and by phone, according to the release.
Officers made entry into her apartment and found Ganger deceased on the floor. It was later found that she was shot once in the eye and twice in the abdomen.
