By Scott Halasz
SPRINGFIELD — A Clark County Grand Jury has indicted two in connection with murder of the woman whose skeletal remains were found in Greene County last year.
Prentiss Hare, 35, was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on four charges including the murder of Tiffany Dawn Chambers, whose remains were found near Spring Valley Township in May 2016.
Hare, who is already serving 26 years to life on a previous murder conviction in Clark County, was charged with aggravated murder, and murder — both first-degree felonies — tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; and gross abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony. Hannah Whitman, 34, was previously arraigned on tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse charges.
During a Thursday morning press conference, Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson said evidence shows that Chambers, 33, came to Springfield in July 2015 and was murdered there before her body was moved to Greene County. Wilson said Whitman was Hare’s girlfriend at the time and aided in moving Chambers to Greene County.
Chambers identity was discovered after after Attorney General Mike DeWine and Sheriff Gene Fischer unveiled a forensic reconstruction of the remains Dec. 8. The Springfield Police Division contacted the sheriff’s office regarding a missing persons case they were investigating and with assistance from law enforcement in Florida, a DNA sample from a Chambers family member was collected and tested at the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).
“This was an excellent example of cooperation between different law enforcement agencies,” Wilson said. “Once they were able to get the standard from Miss Chambers’ family member, the turn around on identification in this case was incredibly fast.”
Wilson said he is not seeking the death penalty at this time but is reserving the right to file a superceding indictment with death specifications.
Contact Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.
