COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Latest on an Ohio Supreme Court decision allowing reporters to inspect preliminary autopsy reports in the unsolved slaying of eight family members (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
Preliminary autopsy reports in the unsolved slayings of eight Ohio family members are providing details about the nature of the victims’ gunshot wounds but little other new information.
The southern Ohio case involves seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family who were found shot to death at four homes in April 2016.
Reporters began inspecting the single-page reports Wednesday following an Ohio Supreme Court decision allowing journalists to view the preliminary results. No photos were released.
The report for victim Christopher Rhoden Sr. says he was shot nine times and notes without explanation that his body was decomposed “more than all the others.” The bodies were all found the morning of April 22, 2016, with the shootings believed to have taken place hours before.
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10:20 a.m.
The Ohio Supreme Court has sided with a newspaper seeking to view autopsy reports and photos in the still-unsolved slayings of eight family members.
The southern Ohio case involves seven adults and a teenage boy from the Rhoden family who were found shot to death at four homes in April 2016.
The court ruled unanimously Wednesday in favor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, saying Ohio law allows reporters to view preliminary autopsy and investigative notes and findings, and photographs.
Heavily redacted versions of the reports released in 2016 showed all but one of the victims were shot multiple times in the head, but details about any other injuries and toxicology test results weren’t released.
A message was left with the Attorney General’s Office, which opposed access to the autopsies.
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