Ohio woman, 22, was denied protection order against husband charged in her murder

SHELBY - The 22-year-old Greenwich woman whose body was found Tuesday in a wooded area on Bowman Street Road was denied a civil protection order last week against her estranged husband, who is accused of killing her.

Alec Blair, 21, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in connection with the death of his wife, Gaberien “Gabe” Clevenger. He remains in the Richland County Jail.

Mansfield Municipal Court Magistrate John McCollister entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday morning for Blair, who attempted to plead guilty to the charge of murder, a felony of the first degree. By law, the magistrate cannot accept a guilty plea on a felony charge.

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Blair was ordered held on a $1 million cash bond plus personal recognizance, electronic monitoring with pretrial supervision, and no contact with the victim's family, according to court records.

Clevenger had been reported missing at 4:05 p.m. Monday to the Shelby Police Department by her friend Lisa Davis of Shelby. Davis told the News Journal she had known Clevenger for about two months and had let her stay in her house out of concern for Clevenger's safety.

Clevenger worked at the Bob Evans Restaurant on Trimble Road, where Davis' son Randy is the manager. When Clevenger did not show up for work or call off Monday the crew at the restaurant became concerned, Davis said.

The Richland County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with Shelby Police, began investigating after Clevenger was reported missing by Davis.

The couple were planning to divorce, Davis said.

Clevenger was last seen in Blair's Jeep on Monday, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Richland County Sheriff's Office.

Blair’s Jeep was found where he works, which authorities did not name, and evidence inside the car led them to believe a crime had been committed, according to the news release.

Davis said Wednesday she was told by Blair's family members that Clevenger had been stabbed to death Monday in Blair's vehicle.

Maj. Joe Masi of the Richland County Sheriff's Office, said Wednesday he could not comment on the manner in which Clevenger died.

Blair was taken to the Shelby Police Department and interviewed by police and a detective from the sheriff's office. Authorities said Blair earlier had taken them to the wooded area on Bowman Street Road, south of Ohio 96, where Clevenger’s body was found.

The Ohio Bureau of Investigation processed the crime scene, and the release said evidence was collected from three locations, including Blair’s vehicle and his home.

Davis said Clevenger had told her she lived in fear of her estranged husband.

"She told me about Alec and I was like, ‘Hon, I have been through domestic violence and these are extremely red flags,’" Davis said.

Davis said Clevenger confided in her that she had seen some warning signs before the wedding but that everything "went down the tubes" after they got married. "She said she was really scared and she didn't know how to leave him," she added.

"She said she felt like she was in prison, is how she described it for me," Davis said. "She had to cook for him and clean for him and she had to give him all her money. If she didn't do what he wanted, then he would break her things. It was all about him."

Davis told Clevenger to start calling law enforcement every time Blair did anything.

"He was destroying her property. He was sending her text messages to her that were awful," Davis said. "He sent pictures of her naked to my son and probably lots of other people, just degrading. The physical things were just to break her items."

Clevenger had filed a protection order on Jan. 22 against her husband, but the Richland County Domestic Relations Court denied an ex-parte order on that date and the case was rescheduled for a full hearing on Feb. 5. Blair did not attend the hearing, which was held to determine whether a full domestic violence civil protection order should be issued against Blair.

According to court records, Clevenger claimed on Jan. 22 that "he (Blair) has been harassing me over phone. Shows up at my house and breaks my things. Screams in my face. Shows up at my work and starts things to upset/embarrass me. Keeps sending me threats."

The magistrate, Sharon M. May, said in her decision that "petitioner (Clevenger) failed to testify to any acts of domestic violence. Rather, she (Clevenger) presented two marked exhibits of social media messages sent to her by the respondent (Blair).

"The exhibits contain excessive profanity and discuss the parties' shared pets, but do not contain any threats of violence toward the petitioner. Clevenger had not contacted law enforcement regarding the messages and did not know the exact dates. Clevenger did contact law enforcement when she believed her residence was broken into. However, she said she did not see any individual who entered her residence at the time, even though she was present at the time. She stated she believed it to be the respondent because there was no forced entry into the home, therefore, assuming the entry was gained by key."

Blair acknowledged to the court he sent her the messages via social media, adding that he should not have sent the messages but did so out of anger, according to court records.

Richland County Domestic Relations Judge Heather Cockley said in a statement Wednesday that "the court is deeply heartbroken to hear of the passing of Gaberien Clevenger. The magistrate assigned to this case has extensive experience in cases dealing with domestic violence, and working as a prosecutor and as an advocate for victims of domestic violence. The magistrate assigned to hear this case is responsible for applying the facts, as presented, to the law, and found that domestic (violence) had not been proven by a preponderance of the evidence."

It is not known when Blair and Clevenger were married, although they posted a note about their wedding on Facebook in August 2019. The couple had applied for a marriage license that month, according to court records.

The Ohio Bureau of Investigation processed the crime scene, and the sheriff's office news release said evidence was collected from three locations, including Blair’s vehicle and his home.

According to Davis, Blair found that Clevenger was staying at her house and got the address by contacting a woman on Facebook.

When she was informed that Clevenger did not report to work, which Davis said was unlike her, Davis called Shelby police out of concern, and police said they could do a wellness check and that she could file a missing persons report 48 hours later.

Davis said she had Blair's phone number and took it upon herself and started texting him, "Hey where's Gabe?"

An autopsy was to be performed on Clevenger Wednesday at the Montgomery County Medical Examiner's Office.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

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Twitter: @LWhitmir