NORWALK — The cameras from ABC News 20/20 program aren’t just here to document a single crime. They are here to document a system.
The conviction of Fred Reer in January was supposed to be the end of the Amanda Dean story. For county residents, it started off with a fair number of question, and now there are many more.
How did the Sheriff’s Office miss a murder for nearly a six years? Why was the family told she was “safe” when she was being abused and killed? Who called and told Sheriff Todd Corbin that Amanda was alive when she was already gone, deceased? Are there phone records of that call? When will the investigation files be released? Will Sheriff Corbin face criminal charges? Will others at the sheriffs office?
There are other questions, too, equally as horrible: Did Fred Reer kill again, after he killed Amanda? A county sheriff’s detective in Florida says he’s a primary suspect in the death of a man who was last seen in 2018 with Fred Reer, and never seen again.
Do it again, and again
Now, similar patterns of neglect, abuse and substandard investigation practices are emerging in yet another case file involving the violent death of a young woman: Tricia Shepard, who was just 21. Those mistakes and the long delay starting an investigation of Amanda Dean’s homicide, along with the missteps later, have created a toxic cesspool of distrust among the community in the sheriff’s office overall, and for Corbin particularly.
That cesspool has allowed others — including a misguided podcaster who thinks God sent her here to solve crimes and help others — become a false voice of authority because the sheriff’s office has become a gelding of sorts by the perception it is incompetent.
Ashli Ford’s sidekick, Elsebeth Baumgartner, also a convicted felon, is equally delusional. She was determined by a court to be mentally unstable in 2007, according to court documents, and Ford also was ordered to undergo mental health evaluations after her felony intimidation convictions in May 2025.
But because of all the botched investigations and the silence that meets every question they are asked to answer, Corbin and Prosecutor James Sitterly have been rendered mute and ineffective, so much so that it’s allowed misguided people to think Ashli Ford and Elsebeth Baumgartner make sense.
The mistakes made after the investigation of Katelynn’s death got started could be one reasons Sheriff Corbin has avoided talking with Tricia Shepard for eight years, about what happened to Katelynn, how it happen.
Katelynn’s pickup went off the road on County Line 187 in New London and burst into flames. Her remains were found in the passenger seat of the vehicle. There was no evidence that there had been a driver, or that what happened was an accident.
It’s all in how you term it
The Dismissal: In Amanda’s case, they said she ran away. In Katelynn’s case, they say it was an “accident” with no evidence of that.
The Roadblock: In Amanda’s case, it took years of public pressure to get BCI involved. In Katelynn’s case, Prosecutor Sitterly is already telling people BCI will “likely reject” it.
ABC 20/20 is watching. A team from NBC’s Dateline also is here, and a million of you are watching right here at StayTunedSandusky.com. The Attorney General is “too busy” to answer, but the national media is finding plenty of time to look at Huron County.
Stay Tuned.
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Always heard Ohio was haunted and now I'm sure of it. When a local "advocate" attacks grieving family members and accuses them of doing it! Then, when there is no question they didn't do anything but fight for justice, for years, silence from "The Advocate." Just long enough to move on to harass another grieving family member, yet. (Because even if you say something you don't believe, you can hide behind the 1st Amendment.) No wonder all the DVL and DSZ license plates.