Amber Alert now murder investigation

Van Wert independent staff report

OTTAWA — What started out as an Amber Alert Thursday on the possible abduction of three Putnam County teenagers has tragically morphed into what appears to be a murder investigation.

According to information provided by the Ottawa Police Department, the Amber Alert was issued at 11:21 a.m. Thursday after Shellie Grothaus, mother of at least one of the boys, reported that her son, Blaine Romes, 14, was missing, as were Blake Romes and Michael Fey, both 17.

Also missing from the boys’ residence at Lot 61, Elkcrest Trailer Park in Ottawa, was a 2006 Chevrolet HHR vehicle.

The bodies of the Romes boys were later found after Fey was taken into custody by Columbus police Thursday afternoon inside the missing vehicle. An autopsy is being performed on the boys’ bodies to determine cause of death.

“Multiple agencies assisted and located these two bodies,” said Ottawa Police Lt. Josh Strick in a news release issued Thursday night.

No one had been officially charged as of Friday morning.