On Sunday, May 11, 1997, at approximately 6.25 a.m., the Toronto Fire Department was toned out for a

structure fire at a home in Toronto, Ohio. That home belonged to 86-year-old Ruth Roberts. Ruth, born on December 25th, 1910, was an elder and deacon in her church.

She taught Sunday school.

And she was, by all accounts, a loving and caring person.

In a statement, firefighter Christopher Grimm describes how Ruth was found on that day in May 1997.

She was lying on the floor of one of the bedrooms in her house.

She was on her back, naked from the waist down, and was positioned between a bed and a wall.

Ruth Roberts, a caring, loving, elderly woman, was dead. When her body was brought

out of the house, Mr. Grimm observed blood coming from her mouth. He also noted that her face

was bruised and swollen. An autopsy performed by Dr. Himanchu Doshi would later reveal the

extent of Ruth's injuries.

She had rib fractures. She had broken skull bones.

Also, her body had been burned post-mortem.

She had died of, quote, extensive blunt-forced traumatic injuries to the skull, neck, and chest.

Ruth's three killers were later apprehended and sent to prison.

They were. Dan McCauley, 16. Jerry Lee White, 16, and Clifford Mounts, 14.

McCauley has since died. I believe he killed himself. So this leaves only White and

Mounts, both of whom previously had parole hearings scheduled for around

2042. Fast forward to 2021. Ohio governor, Mike DeWine, signs into law Senate Bill 256,

which I think is better called the Teen Killer Empowerment Act, or TKEA, for short.

The TKEA cut mounts and white sentences substantially and could put them back on the streets very soon.

Keep listening to learn about the law that could set Ruth's killers free

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