COLUMBUS – Police have not released the names of a man and woman whose bodies were found in a van on the Hilltop Sunday morning, but there are reports that they were killed over a week ago during a fight with a man investigators say has confessed to the crime.
SUSPECT CONFESSES TO DOUBLE HOMICIDE:
Today-11/4/18 info was received there were 2 bodies in a van@S. Harris Ave.
Officers found a 2005 white Dodge Caravan with 2 bodies inside.
A person of interest, 54yo John Jordan Junior, was detained near the van & confessed to the murders. pic.twitter.com/gQYDPYHXsx— Columbus Division of Police (@ColumbusPolice) November 5, 2018
John Jordan, Jr., was being held on two counts of murder early Monday after officers found two dead bodies inside a white 2005 Dodge Caravan in the 100 block of S. Harris Avenue late Sunday morning, Homicide Unit Sgt. Eric Pilya said.
Pilya says Jordan was detained near the van and was taken to police headquarters where he confessed to killing the couple who were found inside the vehicle.
The van was transported to the Franklin County Coroner’s office with the bodies inside and Pilya said police hoped to have officials confirmation of the victims’ identities after an autopsy Monday but The Columbus Dispatch reported that an affidavit in Franklin County Municipal Court identified them as Ryan Fuller and his girlfriend, Mikayla Sotherland.
The court records stated it is believed that Jordan was involved in a fight with Fuller in the 2800 block of Fremont Street on the Hilltop on Oct. 27. Jordan inflicted fatal wounds with an unidentified object and, when Sotherland tried to intervene, fatally injured her with the same object, according to the newspaper report.
These were the 90th and 91st homicides of 2018 in Columbus.
An elderly man found shot to death inside a home in Weinland Park Saturday morning is the victim of the city’s 89th homicide of the year, police said.
UPDATE 11/6/18 7:11 a.m.: The victim in this incident has been identified
Officers called to the home in the 900 block of E. 9th Avenue at 7:16 a.m. found 70-year-old James Bliss, who was pronounced dead at the scene by Columbus fire personnel, Homicide Unit detectives said.
The case is under investigation and the exact motive is uncertain at this time.
Anyone with information regarding this homicide is asked to contact the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.