Top stories of 2025: runway extended, men sentenced

Editor’s note: As the end of 2025 draws near, the Van Wert independent is publishing a recap of what it judges to be the Top 10 stories of the year. Articles featuring two stories each will be published daily, with the top two stories published on Wednesday, December 31. Today’s article features the No. 8 and No. 7 top stories.

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

No. 8 — A major milestone made possible through a public-private partership was celebrated during a ceremony held at the Van Wert County Regional Airport in early September.

The September 6 ceremony marked a coveted runway extension at the airport in Van Wert. Airport officials, political representatives, and supporters gathered to hear about the benefits of 1,000 feet of additional runway and 400 feet of overrun that will allow corporate airplanes to fly directly into Van Wert. Those in attendance were then bused along the runaway for a ribbon cutting ceremony, then were taken back to the terminal to observe a take off and landing on the newly extended runway.

“I think it’s the ultimate gate opening to Van Wert,” Airport Board President Andrew Davis said at the ceremony. “This gives the opportunity for businesses from all over the country – all over the world – to come directly into Van Wert without having to go somewhere else first. It’s a big step for the city, the county and the area.”

“What you’ve done is open this community up to economic development in a way it hasn’t seen,” said Van Wert native Scott Niswonger, who helped finance the project. “Van Wert is really now open for business and when that airplane parks out there and prospects come through these doors, I’ll be darned if we don’t show pretty well.”

Plans for the $2.4 million runaway extension were put into motion in 2022 and the layout plan was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration the following year. Bids for the project were opened in October of 2024 and groundbreaking took place a month later. Actual construction began in May of this year and the runway officially opened in July.

No. 7 — Two separate and unrelated trials tied to the deaths of two city residents were finally resolved this year.

Larry Andrus Jr. of Van Wert, who was convicted of involuntary slaughter in connection with the September 30, 2023, death of his stepfather was sentenced May 14 in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Andrus, 50, was sentenced by Judge Martin D. Burchfield to 6-9 years in a state prison on the first degree felony charge. He was given credit for 539 days already served at the Van Wert County Correctional Facility. Once his prison term is complete, Andrus will be subject to 2-5 years of post-release control. In Ohio, involuntary manslaughter calls for a prison term of 3-11 years in prison, along with a possible fine of up to $20,000.

The involuntary manslaughter charge was tied to the death of Roy DeWayne Watts, 59, of Van Wert.

Andrus was originally scheduled to stand trial in August of 2024, then May of this year on charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and strangulation, but he opted to plead guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter during a pre-trial hearing held in mid-April. In exchange for the guilty plea, the remaining charges were dismissed by the Van Wert County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to a Van Wert Police Department report, Andrus and Watts were involved in a verbal argument, followed by a physical altercation at a home on S. Vine St. Andrus was interviewed by Van Wert Police shortly after the  incident. He was indicted by a grand jury on November 2, 2023 but fled the area. He was then arrested six days later by U.S. Marshals in Bay County, Florida.

In June, a Rockford man convicted of shooting and killing his girlfriend nearly two years prior was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The prison sentence imposed upon Ryan Houser, 39, was mandatory. Houser, who showed no emotion during any of the proceedings and did not make a statement before sentencing, was seen sobbing as he was being led by deputies outside the courtroom back to the jail to await transport to prison.

The victim, Barbara Ganger, was shot and killed at her residence at Van Wert West Apartments in early September of 2023. Her body was discovered after the Van Wert Police Department was dispatched to do a welfare check. She had been shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the head.

Houser was arrested and jailed on in Mercer County four days after Ganger’s death on unrelated charges of having a weapon under disability. He was indicted by a Van Wert County grand jury roughly two months after the murder.

The case has been slowed by various delays, the latest of which occurred in May of this year, two months after he abruptly entered a no contest plea to the murder charge and was then found guilty by Judge Burchfield. In exchange for the plea, three other charges – aggravated murder, an unclassified felony, possessing a weapon under disability, and tampering with evidence, both third degree felonies, were dismissed.

Sentencing was scheduled for May 7, However, as sentencing was about to take place that day, Houser claimed he was innocent and asked that his no contest plea be withdrawn. A hearing on the request was scheduled for May 22, but eight days after that, Judge Burchfield issued a ruling denying the request.

Other delays in the case included two changes of legal counsel. the filing of several legal motions and a supression hearing. Trial dates were established twice, once in April of 2024 and again in April of this year.

Houser is currently appealing his sentence.

Monday: The No. 6 and No. 5 top stories of 2025.