Lou Whitmire, and Courtney Day

Mansfield News Journal

The remains of three people were found in Ashland and Richland counties Tuesday, and a man is being held on kidnapping charges in connection with the case.

While investigating a home where a woman was held captive, Ashland police found the remains of two unidentified people on Covert Court near downtown Ashland.

Later Tuesday, a third set of remains was discovered near a burned-out Madison Township house after authorities said Shawn M. Grate confessed to murdering a woman at 1027 Park Avenue East in June.

The case began in Ashland around 6:40 a.m. with a woman calling police, saying she had been abducted and held in a house at 363 Covert Court. The kidnapping victim had not been reported as missing.

Authorities searched houses at 363 and 365 Covert Court, finding the remains of two bodies. The houses are owned by Pump House Ministries and were believed to be vacant.

Grate, 40, was taken into custody and is being held in the Ashland County Jail on a kidnapping charge in connection with the case, according to Chief Deputy Carl Richert of the Ashland County Sheriff's Office.

Family of missing woman upset about Ashland investigation

Richland County Prosecutor Bambi Couch Page confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the man said he had murdered a woman in a house at 1027 Park Avenue East in Madison Township in June, the same month that house was destroyed by fire.

Couch Page, standing near the half-burned small house, said authorities had found a female’s body at the rear of the house in a wooded area, down a ravine.

“Her identity at this time is unknown, but we have a lead as to possibly who she might be and the sheriff’s office is going to follow up on that information,” Couch Page said.

Ashland police and state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification agents were on the 300 block of Covert Court and a nearby laundromat on Fourth Street from Tuesday morning into the evening.

Investigators brought a law enforcement K-9 into the house and removed several pieces of evidence, including evidence boxes that appeared to be for firearms. Police and firefighters set up a perimeter around the scene using vehicles and a temporary emergency shelter, obstructing the view of what was happening outside the home during the investigation.

During a brief 4 p.m. press conference, Ashland County Coroner Dale Thomae said he had not been given access to the scene and would not be permitted to inspect and identify the remains until after BCI finished processing the scene.

The local chapter of American Red Cross was called to the Ashland scene Tuesday evening to provide a mobile feeding unit for first responders. Officials told Red Cross they expected BCI to be processing the scene until after midnight Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Richland County Sheriff J. Steve Sheldon said Ashland County authorities advised his office that the suspect said he had disposed of a body in Richland County.

Sheldon said authorities found the body within five minutes of arriving on the scene. He said the body was in the woods down a ravine at the rear of the house, and was not buried.

Madison Township Fire Capt. Mike Shears said the vacant house burned on June 20 or June 21.

“It was definitely suspicious,” he said Tuesday. “The State Fire Marshal’s Office came in to investigate.”

Couch Page said the fire and the woman’s remains are believed to be connected.

Richland County coroner’s investigator Bob Ball said a forensic anthropologist from Mercyhurst University out of Erie, Pa., will help authorities identify the body, as there is a significant amount of decomposition.

“DNA testing will be inevitable,” he said.

Grate is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Ashland.