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The Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and WHIO-TV have team coverage of this important story. Watch Newscenter 7 today for live coverage.
BELLEFONTAINE, Logan County — Arrest warrants were filed Friday for Samuel Littleton II on charges of murder and gross abuse of a corpse in the death of a 26-year-old mother of two.
Littleton is the subject of a nationwide manhunt, and he has been called a person of interest wanted in connection with the death of Tiffany L. Brown of Bellefontaine.
The arrest warrants were filed Friday in Bellefontaine Municipal Court and charge Littleton with felonious assault and tampering with evidence.
Bellefontaine Police Chief Brad Kunze said in a Friday afternoon press conference that Brown's partially-clothed body was found under scrap wood in a partially-finished basement in Littleton's home. She had been stabbed multiple times, Kunze said.
Littleton also is wanted in connection with the disapperance of an elderly Logan County couple, Richard and Gladis Russell.
The car belonging to the Russells was spotted at a Butler County rest stop but well before the couple had been reported missing or linked to Littleton, according to Logan County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randy Dodds.
The Russells' green 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis was reportedly spotted at a rest area in Butler County off Interstate 75 on Wednesday night. A trooper on routine patrol ran the license plates of the vehicle between 11:30 and 11:45 Wednesday.
Investigators are still are trying to locate the Russells in connection with the manhunt for Littleton.
Dodds told WHIO-TV that it is possible that Littleton is heading south to Tennessee or West Virginia.
Neighbors and family members asked authorities to check on the well being of the Russells, who haven’t been heard from since sometime Wednesday. Richard Russell is 84 and Gladis Russell 85.
Logan County Sheriff's deputies could not locate the couple at their home and their Grand Marquis is also missing. Bellefontaine police are asking for the public’s help in locating the couple’s vehicle bearing Ohio license plates PDG13E. The FBI also has joined the search for the Russells.
Anyone who sees the vehicle is asked not approach, but immediately call 911.
A public records search revealed that Littleton purchased his home from Richard Russell in November of 2009. That is the house at 729 Eastern Ave. where Brown’s remains were found Wednesday night.
Littleton, 37, lived in that residence with his girlfriend, Brown’s mother Deborah Neeley. Neeley is not a suspect in her daughter’s death, Kunze repeated Friday afternoon.
Kunze said that no time of death has been firmly established because autopsy results have not been finished. However, the chief said nothing would indicate Brown survived into Saturday and that she likely died in the house.
“It’s my understanding that the body has been in the house since at least Saturday,” Kunze said.
Littleton’s vehicle was found abandoned on Township Road 33 on Wednesday around 6:20 p.m., about two miles from the Russells' home. A resident near there told deputies that the car was there for several days.
Richard Russell suffered a stroke recently and needs a wheelchair or walker, reports said. The Russells also require medications, and a journal at their house shows the last entry as being Wednesday about 8:30 p.m.
Deputies found in the Russell home a slip of paper with Littleton's cell phone number, WHIO-TV reported.
Littleton currently is being sought nationwide in conjunction with the investigation as a person of interest.
Brown’s body was discovered in the basement of the Eastern Avenue home after officers investigating the 26-year-old’s disappearance were re-interviewing the victim’s mother and recognized an article of clothing that appeared to be blood-stained. Officers obtained a search warrant and during the course of a detailed search discovered the body hidden in the basement.
Anyone with information about Littleton’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Bellefontaine Police Department at (937) 599-1010 or its tips line at (937) 599-8477.
Positive identification and official cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Brown, 26, was last seen Friday leaving her home in the 500 block of Albert Street.
After the babysitter of Brown’s children hadn’t heard from her by Friday night, she and relatives became concerned.
A 1997 Honda Civic belonging to the mother of two was found Monday on East Columbus Avenue in an apartment complex a few blocks from her mother’s and Littleton’s residence.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124 or kwedell@coxohio.com.