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Rebecca Cade
Construction workers in Ohio were shocked to discover that the figure of a woman hanging from a fence was not a Halloween decoration, as initially thought, but a real dead body.
Ohio police told reporters the body was discovered at 8:30am on Tuesday in Chillicote, according to the state's local outlet WKRC. The shock value was all the greater because it's Halloween time, when people engage in pranks and make-believe. But this was anything but that.
The gruesome scene showed the body dangling lifelessly by a sleeve. The police were immediately called, and it was determined the woman had sustained injuries, but not mutilation. One local, Tammy Dixon, told WKRC "I just put my hands over my face and said, 'This can't be happening here, it's not real and I just didn't see what I thought I saw.'"
Forensics have determined that the local woman, a 31-year-old Rebecca Cade, was badly beaten in her final moments. Neighbors told reporters they couldn't recognize her face.
Police initially tried to link the motive to the unsolved deaths of four other local women and disappearances of two more in Ross County in the last 18 months. But Tuesday evening they arrested Donnie Cochenou Jr., 27, who had confessed to the killing and was allegedly arguing and fighting with Cade before things escalated. The motive, while less mysterious, remains unclear.
Couchenou Jr. is being held on $2 million bail.
Comment: Good to see this whistleblower's efforts being rewarded. This should encourage more whistleblowers and conscientious objectors to step forward.