(XENIA, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine joined Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer today to announce the arrests of two Ohio brothers in connection with a recent double homicide in Miami Township (Greene County) near Yellow Springs. Dustin Merrick, 25, of Xenia, has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Bret Merrick, 24, of Miami Township (Montgomery County), has been charged with two counts of complicity to aggravated murder, two counts of complicity to aggravated burglary, and one count of felonious assault.
Sheriff Fischer requested the assistance of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) after William “Skip” Brown and Sherri Mendenhall were discovered dead with gunshot wounds near Yellow Springs on January 15 at a home on East Enon Road. Authorities served two search warrants last night, including one at Dustin Merrick’s Xenia home on Parnell Drive and another at Bret Merrick’s home on Eagle Ridge Drive in Montgomery County’s Miami Township.
“This is a great tragedy for the Brown and Mendenhall families as well as the Yellow Springs community,” said Attorney General Mike DeWine. “The arrests are the result of old-fashioned police work and modern forensics. This has been a great team effort with twenty of our BCI criminal analysts, agents – from crime scene, investigations, and cyber units – and scientists in the BCI laboratory assisting Greene County Sheriff Fischer and his team.”
“Less than 10 days after the murders we are announcing these arrests,” said Sheriff Gene Fischer. “I want to thank many law enforcement departments, especially the Attorney General’s Office, which provided huge technical and forensic assistance, a big help in solving this case. We also appreciate tips that came in from the community.”
Besides the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and BCI, many agencies have been involved in the investigation including the Greene County Regional SWAT Team, Greene County ACE Task Force, Xenia Police Department, Yellow Springs Police Department, Dayton Police Department, and Miami Township (Montgomery County) Police Department.
If you have any information you think could help investigators in this case, please call the Greene County Sheriff’s Office at 937-562-4815 or BCI at 855-BCI-OHIO.
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Media Contacts
Eve Mueller: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840