Amanda Dean Part 2: What Sheriff Corbin can’t ignore
He and up to 10 deputies likely to be deposed under oath in Dean family lawsuit; federal judge to pin back OAG Yost's ears
COLLINS, Ohio — Todd Corbin was a brand new sheriff in January 2017 when deputies responded to a domestic violence call that brought them to an outbuilding on a property off Wells Road, a shack where Fred Reer and Amanda Dean lived.
When deputies arrived, Dean was injured and Reer, quite obviously, had assaulted her, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the family of Amanda Dean against Huron County, Sheriff Todd Corbin, his cousin, former Deputy Det. Sgt. Shannon Lyons, and 10 other deputies.
Despite the obvious injuries and true cause for them, Reer was not charged although state law required that he should have been, the lawsuit asserts. The failure to arrest Reer — the failure to protect Amanda Dean from him — led to her eventual murder, the lawsuit claims, right there in that same shack where deputies were dispatched to just six months earlier.
Amanda’s family warned deputies in January that Fred would kill Amanda. Her sister played a voicemail for the sheriff in which Amanda “was crying saying she had a black eye and that Fred was going to kill her,” according the sheriff’s own report.
Then, this
They lived in fear, and just six months later, Fred again threatened to kill Amanda. The family reported her missing and they told Sheriff Corbin they feared Reer acted on his threats. A relative of Reer’s also contacted the sheriff’s office and warned the sheriff about death threats Reer made, and how he planned to dispose of Amanda’s body using blue barrels on the property.
Be sure you read Part 1
In all, the sheriff was told at least three different times that Fred would kill Amanda, but Corbin determined there wasn’t any real threat, despite the black eye and Amanda bleeding when deputies responded in January 2017. The sheriff, according to his report, said he spoke with the director of a local domestic violence shelter and was assured Amanda was alive and safe, but did not want to talk with her family.
That’s a lie, according to the lawsuit.
“Corbin never contacted any domestic violence shelter in July of 2017 to locate Amanda Dean, nor did any domestic violence shelter ever contact him,” the lawsuit asserts. The family contends Corbin made the false claim “to conceal their utter failure in January 2017 to protect Amanda from Fred from the obvious domestic abuse that eventually led to her death.”
Corbin lied, the family claims, because he didn’t want the failure to arrest Reer back in January to reflect negatively against him. It was his first year as sheriff after getting elected in November 2016.
The sheriff’s claim is highly suspect, however, and likely false because the timeline of Amanda’s death, determined through a state investigation started in January 2023, the lawsuit asserts. It doesn’t fit with when Corbin reported having the call with the shelter director back in 2017. By the time of the alleged call, Amanda was deceased, the state’s investigation determined, according to Reer’s indictment, bill of particulars.
Corbin never publicly offered any explanation. He’s never apologized to the Dean family, and he stopped talking to the Sandusky Register at around this time, blaming the newspaper for negative publicity and the public pressure that resulted in him asking for a state investigation. He does not respond to inquiries from StayTunedSandusky.
Just like you
In August 2023, Corbin did comment about the case in a post at the sheriff’s Facebook page, saying as sheriff he’s subject to same laws the same as anyone else. But that proved to be incorrect since it remains unknown if state investigators ever interviewed Corbin or if he was ever questioned about the discrepancies in how he handled the two complaints involving Amanda Dean in 2017. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also, in a highly unusual step, classified the records and made them unavailable to the public in a way that exceeds the scope of his authority. Yost is intentionally shielding Corbin from public scrutiny.
Yost is refusing to release public records related to the investigation and the plea agreement with Reer, falsely contending the records are “confidential,” according to records experts. When a criminal suspect is convicted and sentenced there are no remaining exemptions that allow records to be withheld.
A source told StayTunedSandusky.com that a state investigator, after the state investigation was started, immediately sought to confirm the telephone call and spoke with employees at the shelter. They told him nobody from the shelter would ever have a conversation like the one Corbin described and denied one took place. The source also said state Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Special Agent John Saraya checked telephone records and was unable to confirm that a call between Corbin and the shelter director ever took place during the specific time period.
It hasn’t been possible to confirm those assertions, however, since Yost is hiding the records and has ordered staff to refrain from commenting or discussing the case.
Saraya, the BCI agent, has declined to respond to questions and has declined to be interviewed since Fred Reer, 42, was convicted in December for killing Amanda Dean. Assistant Attorney General Daniel Kasaris and Huron County Prosecutor Jim Sitterly, who together successfully prosecuted Reer, also have declined to answer questions or consent to be interviewed.
Different court, different rules
A federal judge is expected to order Yost to deliver the case file to him, however, and to make a decision on Yost’s claim the records are private and confidential. U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary is presiding over the Dean family’s lawsuit and likely will be admitting the records into evidence. The lawsuit was filed in 2023, but processing it through the court was delayed awaiting the outcome of Reer’s criminal trial. Now that the trial is over, Zouhary is pushing both prosecutors and defense counsel to deliver discovery records.
The Dean family contends that Sheriff Corbin and his deputies violated their constitutional rights by deliberately abandoning the search for Amanda Dean just 24 hours after she was reported missing, based on a false claim that a domestic violence shelter had confirmed her safety, the so-called “fabricated phone call.” Amanda Dean four sons grew up believing there mother had abandoned them because that’s what Corbin conveyed to them what happened.
The family argues that the Sheriff’s Office maintained a five-year "charade" of misinformation—including accepting birthday gifts and cards for Amanda’s children under the guise of delivering them—to conceal a pattern of disparate treatment and a failure to arrest Amanda’s abuser during the documented January 2017 assault.
Ultimately, the lawsuit maintains that the Sheriff’s "reckless and conscience-shocking" inaction deprived the family of their right to due process and equal protection, effectively shielding a murderer while leaving a grieving family in a state of "perpetual suspense."
Corbin, Lyons and John Doe Deputies 1-10 are listed as defendants and are expected to each be deposed in the coming weeks. Corbin and Lyons, who quit his job last year after being investigated for a number of issues and convicted on a dereliction of duty charge, both are expected to be required to answer detailed questions from the family’s attorneys, under oath.
Here’s some of what we know they will not be able to ignore:
📞 ‘Fabricated’ phone call?
Did someone call Corbin and tell him Amanda was safe? Did Saraya talk with the shelter, check the phone records?
🔨 A ‘falling Hammer’ alibi
Six months before her murder, deputies responded to a call where Amanda was bleeding and Fred Reer was allegedly brandishing a hammer. Corbin told the media he couldn’t make an arrest because Amanda wouldn’t give a statement. The lawsuit counters that this was a cover-up: “Ohio law has no requirement that a victim complete a written statement if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the offense of domestic violence has been committed.”
🎁 Gifts for the dead
For years, the family brought cards and gifts for Amanda’s children to the Sheriff’s Office, believing Corbin’s claim that she was in a shelter. The suit contends the department “persistently rebuffed all requests for additional information,” effectively maintaining a charade while Amanda’s body lay in a shallow grave.
🔍 Do your job
The lawsuit argues this wasn’t just incompetence; it was discrimination. By refusing to conduct a “meaningful investigation,” the suit contends the defendants “treated the Dean Family disparately from other, similarly situated” families, violating their 14th Amendment right to Equal Protection.
👺 ‘Reckless’ lies
The family contends Corbin used his public office to spread a false narrative, telling anyone who asked that Amanda “was in a safe place.” By canceling the BOLO (Be On the Lookout) and removing her from LEADS, the suit argues the Sheriff ensured that if anyone did see Amanda’s body or Reer’s suspicious behavior, they wouldn’t know it was part of a crime.