Gunshot residue addressed at hearing

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

A Rockford man awaiting trial on charges tied to the September, 2023 death a Van Wert woman was in court on Tuesday.

Ryan Houser, 39, is charged with aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony; possessing a weapon under disability, a third degree felony, and tampering with evidence, also a third degree felony. He’s accused of shooting and killing Barbara Ganger, 43, at her W. Main St. apartment. Her body was discovered after the Van Wert Police Department was dispatched to do a welfare check at her residence at Van Wert West Apartments. Officers discovered she had been shot twice, once in the stomach area and once in the head.

Houser and Ganger reportedly had a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

Tuesday’s hearing, referred to as a Daubert hearing, was held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court to learn more about the collection and analysis of gunshot residue that was collected as evidence in the case. During the hearing, a forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, Dr. Ted Manasian, took the stand to offer testimony about the evidence, as well as the timing of its collection. 

Gunshot residue was collected approximately 32 hours after the alleged time of the shooting and when it was collected from a pair of Houser’s pants. Normally, gunshot residue samples are collected in five hours or less.

Houser’s attorney, Kenneth Rexford, previously said he intends to present evidence at trial that shows his client was in the Rockford area at the time of Ganger’s death. An autopsy report from the Lucas County Coroner’s Office said Ganger died at 10:32 p.m. September 4, 2023. Rexford, who maintains Houser’s innocence, claims evidence will set Ganger’s death at approximately 8 a.m. on September 4, 2023, more than 14 hours earlier than the time listed on the coroner’s report.

Judge Martin D. Burchfield said he will issue a written ruling on the matter in the near future.

A final pre-trial hearing will be held on March 19, and Houser’s trial is scheduled to begin April 7. It’s expected to last until April 15. He was originally scheduled to stand trial last April, but it was delayed due to a series of motions and two changes of legal counsel. He remains in the Van Wert County Correctional Facility in lieu of $1 million bond.