Motions filed in local murder case

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Several new developments have occurred in the case of Ryan Houser, the area man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend last September.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 6 in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. A trial date could be established during the conference and three new motions could be addressed during the hearing. 

Earlier this month, Houser’s new attorney, Kenneth Rexford, filed an amended suppression motion asking Van Wert County Common Pleas Court Judge Martin Burchfield to suppress “the fruits of the search by law enforcement of Mr. Ryan Houser’s cell phone.” In the motion, Rexford wrote a search warrant for the phone was not supported by probable cause.

Rexford also made a request for reciprocal discovery and in a third and separate motion, he’s requesting Count IV against Houser be dismissed. The fourth count is possessing weapons under disability, a third degree felony. Rexford wrote in his motion that the charge is in violation of Houser’s rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Houser is facing three other charges: aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony, and tampering with evidence, a third degree felony.

Houser, who has addresses in Rockford and Celina, is accused of killing Barbara Ganger, 43, of Van Wert. Her body was discovered on September 4, at Van Wert West Apartments on W. Main St.

Officers discovered she had been shot twice, once in the stomach area and once in the head.

He 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.

Since his arrest, Houser has been represented by three different attorneys. He requested a change from his original lawyer, Scott Gordon, who was replaced by Lima attorney Zach Maisch. According to Van Wert County Common Pleas Court Administrator LaGina Richardson, Rexford was retained by Houser’s family last month to replace Maisch.

He was originally scheduled to stand trial April 15-19, but due to the change in attorneys and various motions, it was postponed and remains unscheduled.

A separate and unrelated murder trial is scheduled for August 12-14 in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. Andrus, 48, is charged with murder, an unclassified felony;  voluntary manslaughter, a first degree felony; two counts of involuntary manslaughter, first degree felonies; strangulation, a second degree felony, and felonious assault, also a second degree felony. The charges are tied to the September, 2023, death of Roy D. Watts, 59, at a home on S. Vine St.