Jeanne Houck

jhouck@communitypress.com

It’s a sad and unsettling image: Janet Garrett’s body remained in a sitting position with one shoe on and one shoe off inside a 6-by-4-foot wooden crate.

It continued undetected for almost two weeks behind a Miami Township store selling power mowers and chainsaws while employees worked within feet of her corpse.

Searchers not much further away called out her name.

It’s in sharp contrast with the uniformly happy pictures that flood the 48-year-old Norwood woman’s Facebook page, in which Garrett flashes a wide smile as she and her friends bowl, enjoy dinner, raise a glass, hula hoop and lie in the sand in places as far apart as Florida, Oakley and Las Vegas.

Here’s Garrett mugging under a huge red sombrero, here’s Garrett draping her bikini-clad figure over the bow of a boat, here’s Garrett swaddling herself in bubble wrap.

Loved ones who attended Garrett’s private funeral Wednesday, April 5, surely wondered how their funny friend ended up dead after police say she caused a two-car wreck in Miami Township the cold, rainy night of March 9 and ran – clad only in jeans and a lightweight shirt – from the scene to hide from police.

So far, authorities have few answers.

Missing Norwood woman found dead in Clermont Co.

Investigators suspect Garrett was under the influence of alcohol when she climbed into a crate behind Clermont County Equipment at 1100 state Route 131 after police say she made an improper turn and struck another car at the nearby intersection of state Route 131 and Wolfpen Pleasant Hill Road.

Authorities believe Garrett remained in the crate until an employee of Clermont County Equipment discovered her body the morning of March 22.

An autopsy showed no obvious cause of death; investigators are waiting for results of toxicology tests they say may not be available for as long as four and a half months.

“(Garrett) had been hanging out and drinking alcohol with friends prior to the accident,” Assistant Miami Township Police Chief Mike Mills said.

“It is our belief that she was fleeing from the police and the manner in which she was found is consistent with someone hiding ... and not being forced in any way into the crate.

“She had no injuries, no restraints and no signs of anyone causing her death,” Mills said.

“At this point, things are pointing towards accidental. Foul play is not suspected.”

Darrell Hawkins, chief investigator of the Clermont County Coroner’s Office, said nothing was found externally on Garrett’s body that would have caused her death.

“She wasn’t stabbed or shot. She didn’t appear to have been assaulted,” Hawkins said.

“She had some bruises, but I can’t tell you what was bruising and what were changes after death.”

Hawkins does not believe Garrett died from injuries sustained in the car wreck.

“It was a minor accident, and she was seen physically running away from the accident,” Hawkins said.

Asked whether Garrett’s death could have been drug-related, Hawkins said, “Certainly that’s a possibility.

“It will take 16 to 18 weeks to get the toxicology reports back.

“But it does not appear to be foul play,” Hawkins said.

Mills said it is not uncommon for a suspected drunk driver to attempt to flee the scene.

“It wasn’t until that following Sunday that it was reported that (Garrett) may be missing,” Mills said.

“Investigators began working on that case with Norwood detectives on that Monday.

“Detectives worked various angles of the case through the discovery of her body,” Mills said.

“Our belief is that she was probably where we found her since the night of the wreck on the 9th.”

Mills said the area where Garrett was found was searched twice by police and twice by volunteers.

“The searches did not extend into residences or private businesses,” Mills said.

“She was very well hidden and not detected by (Clermont County Equipment) employees for nearly two weeks who were within feet of her.

“It wasn’t until employees moved crates that were 10 to 12 feet high with a forklift that she was found,” Mills said.

News about the disappearance of Garrett was shared thousands of times on Facebook pages such as are Help us Find Janet Garrett, Cincinnati Ohio Missing Persons, Missing Persons from Ohio and Websleuths.

Friends and family said on a widely distributed missing person poster that Garrett was “the primary caregiver of her mother, who suffers from dementia, and it is very out of character for her to be away without making prior arrangements.”

Garrett’s Facebook page shows she had a heart as well as a smile.

There are pictures of her and her mother putting a Christmas arrangement on the grave of Garrett’s father at Gate of Heaven Cemetery and Mausoleums in Montgomery.

There also are pictures of Garrett and her mother at a Red Lobster restaurant.

“Mothers day lunch with mom,” Garrett captioned the picture. “Love her.”

It would later emerge that on March 2, Garrett was notified that a Clermont County grand jury had indicted her on a felony charge of breaking and entering.

Garrett was to attend a pretrial hearing on the charge March 13 in Clermont County Common Pleas Court, but a judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest when she was a no-show.

A second warrant for Garrett’s arrest, this one for leaving the scene of the accident in Miami Township on March 9, was issued before her body was found.

Miami Township police say Garrett was at the wheel of her 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser headed west on state Route 131 shortly before 11 p.m. March 9 when she made an improper right-hand turn north onto Wolfpen Pleasant Hill Road.

Garrett struck a 2014 Kia Sorento sport utility vehicle being driven south on Wolfpen Pleasant Hill Road by a 56-year-old Milford woman, police say.

Police say no one was injured – including a passenger in Garrett’s car – but both vehicles had to be towed because they were so badly damaged.

Want to know more about what is happening in Miami Township? Follow me on Twitter @jeannehouck.