'Do you know what it's like to cut through human bone?' Fred Reer asked
While Ohio AG Dave Yost hides court records, a web of witnesses and missing persons across two states reveals a decade of ignored warnings
NORWALK — At least four people knew for years that Fred Reer Jr. killed Amanda Dean in 2017, but they didn’t come forward. Now prosecutors are being asked if they intend to pursue charges against any of them, or anyone else.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has declined comment about why he’s ordered court records in the case sealed. He also has refused to respond to questions about exceeding his administrative authority in order to keep details of the investigation secret.
But, according to statements a woman who would party with Dean and Reer inside the shack off Wells Road in Collins where the couple lived told state agents Fred told her in 2017 that he woke up and Amanda was dead. Some time later, he told her he panicked and asked her if she knew how difficult it was to cut through human bone.
“Do you know what it’s like to cut through human bone?” Reer texted the woman, according to a court document filed Monday and later sealed by Yost beyond the scope of his authority.
