New developments in two murder cases

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Trial dates have been set for a Van Wert man charged with murder, voluntary manslaughter, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and strangulation. In a separate and unrelated case, a man facing charges tied to the death of his girlfriend is seeking to inspect and suppress evidence.

Larry Andrus case

Barring a plea bargain, Larry Andrus Jr. will stand trial August 12-14 in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. The dates were established during a pretrial conference held last week. According to court records, a final pre-trial conference is scheduled for August 1.

The charges against Andrus are connected to the September 30, 2023, death of Roy D. Watts, 59, at his home in the 300 block of S. Vine St. According to a police report, Andrus and Watts were involved in a verbal argument, followed by a physical altercation. The report stated that Andrus was interviewed by Van Wert Police shortly after the incident, along with at least one other witness to the altercation. He was indicted by a grand jury on November 2, but fled the area.

He was arrested November 8 by U.S. Marshals in Bay County, Florida. According to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, he was traveling on a Greyhound bus from Pennsylvania and was scheduled to arrive at a Bay County tattoo shop for an interview. Once the bus was identified, members of the Florida Caribbean Regional Task Force, Panama City Division, pulled it over and arrested Andrus without incident.

Andrus was booked into the Bay County Jail and waived extradition back to Ohio. He was transported back to Van Wert County November 29. During arraignment that same day, he entered a not guilty plea and bond was set at $500,000. He’s represented by attorney Barry E. Schroeder of Ottawa.

Schroeder filed notice in January that Andrus intends to claim self-defense at the trial.

The murder charge is an unclassified felony. The voluntary manslaughter charge and two involuntary manslaughter charges are all first degree felonies, and the strangulation charge and felonious assault charges are second degree felonies.

Ryan Houser case

Court papers filed earlier this month show defense attorney Zachary Maisch is trying suppress evidence gathered against Ryan Houser, 38, of Celina, formerly of Rockford, who’s charged with aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony; possessing a weapon under disability, a third degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third degree felony.

The charges are tied to the early September death of Houser’s girlfriend, Barbara Ganger, of Van Wert.

In his motion, Maisch seeks to suppress multiple statements solicited from Houser by law enforcement officers on seven different occasions. He also claims at no time was Houser given a Miranda warning during interviews with law enforcement, including once when Houser was jailed in lieu of bond.

“All of the above interviews were conducted under circumstances of extreme law enforcement intimidation and in a manner in which no person would have felt free to leave,” Maisch wrote in his motion. “At no point in time did law enforcement ever give a Miranda warning to the defendant. As such, all of the above outlined statements were obtained in violation of the defendant’s rights under the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Ohio.”

In addition, Maisch wants to visually inspect a shell casing found at the scene of the murder and two bullets that were recovered during Ganger’s autopsy in order to possibly determine the caliber. Maisch is claiming no prosecution reports indicate what the caliber may be.

A suppression hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. May 6.

Houser is accused of killing Ganger, 43, at Van Wert West Apartments in early September, 2023. Responding officers discovered she had been shot twice, once in the stomach area and once in the head.

Houser was arrested and jailed in Mercer County on September 8 on unrelated charges of having a weapon under disability and a probation/parole violation. He was indicted by a Van Wert County grand jury November 2, and pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing held several days later. Judge Burchfield set bond was at $1 million. A request made in November to modify his bond was denied.

Houser twice requested to change legal counsel. His first request was rejected, but Judge Martin Burchfield granted the second request to switch from attorney Scott Gordon to Maisch.

Houser’s trial was scheduled for April 15-19, but due to the change in attorneys, it was delayed and new trial dates have not been set.