Update: Alleged killer walked away

Update 4:15 p.m. NORWALK — Fred Reer "knowingly caused the death" of Amanda Dean "on or about July 11, 2017," according to an indictment filed Friday afternoon. Corbin And for the next 5½ years, Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin refused to help Dean's family bring him to justice. Reer, 40, was a free man who looked like he might never be brought to justice. Ohio Attorney General David Yost took over the investigation in January 2023. Since then, however, he has refused to answer questions about it or allow staff members to address questions. On Saturday, a spokesman for Yost sent a news release about the indictment with a provided statement from Yost, who said Amanda Dean's family "deserves justice." But Yost and three others — the prosecutor he assigned to the case, Dan Kasaris; his communications director, Bethany McCorkle; and his spokesman, Dominic Binkley — all failed to offer any explanation for why it took more than 6½ years to arrest Reer. The attorney general and his staff members did not respond to a series of questions emailed to them Saturday morning or to inquiries sent to them earlier. Corbin said he was convinced Dean was alive after her family reported her missing on July 11, 2017. Corbin said he spoke with a person identifying themselves as a director of a women's shelter who told him Amanda was safe, but that she did not want to talk to her family. Corbin and Deputy Shannon Lyons briefly investigated but stopped the search for Dean after one day, despite getting a phone from a relative of Reer's who said Reer threatened to kill Amanda. They never interviewed that caller, and Corbin did not fully document information about the phone call he allegedly received from the shelter director. The sheriff and Lyons might have believed she was alive, but, according to the indictment, Reer killed Dean and "cleaned up a bloody scene with towels, rags and disposing of the bloody sheets from the bed near the shack that Fred lived in with Amanda Dean." There's no record that Corbin and Lyons ever searched the property or spoke with Reer. Reer dismembered the body and burned the mattress "which Amanda Dean died on," the indictment states. Yost and his staff have refused to say if they have identified the caller who purported to be the shelter director, or if they asked Corbin and Lyons why they never spoke with Reer after Amanda was reported missing. They have refused to say if they suspect the initial investigation was incompetently conducted or derelict. Corbin and Lyons did not respond to questions sent to them on Saturday. Six counts, including murder Here are the charges against Reer detailed in the indictment: Count 1: Tampering with Evidence, ORC. $2921.12(A)(1), 2921.12(B), F3 Count 2: Gross Abuse of a Corpse, ORC. $2927.01(B), 2927.01(C), F5 Count 3: Tampering with Evidence, ORC. $2921.12(A)(1), 2921.12(B), F3 Count 4: Tampering with Evidence, ORC. $2921.12(A)(1), 2921.12(B), F3 Count 5: Murder, ORC. $2903.02,(A), 2903.02(B), 2929.02(A), UF Count 6: Tampering with Evidence, ORC. $2921.12(A)(1), 2921.12(B), F3 * Posted today, 2:05 p.m. Yost sends news release about alleged killer's arrest COLLINS — A spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost posted a news release today (Saturday) about the arrest of Fred Reer on Friday. Read: Ex charged with killing Amanda Dean Fred Reer, who is accused of murdering Amanda Dean in 2017, was arrested on Friday, Feb. 9, 2023. But the spokesman, Dominic Binkley, didn't answer any questions surrounding the long delay in finding Amanda Dean's killer. Reer, 40, is charged with murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, according to a jail roster. He is being held in the Huron County Jail. He lived with Dean in an outbuilding on a property owned by his father on Wells Road. He was accused of assaulting Dean on at least one occasion prior to her disappearance. Dean disappeared in July 2017 but Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin called off the search for her after saying he spoke with the director of a woman's shelter who assured him Dean was safe but did not want to talk with family. Corbin never spoke with Amanda Dean at that time and did not confirm she was alive, but he refused for more than 5½ years to help the family find Amanda. He did agree to re-open the investigation in December 2022 after pressure mounted when the Register began reporting about Dean's disappearance and the family's pleas for help. Corbin turned over the investigation to the Ohio Attorney General's office to handle in January 2023. Amanda Dean Provided photo For years Corbin insisted that Dean was alive even though her family never heard from her again. As late as January of 2023, Corbin was still claiming she was alive. The AG's spokesman included a statement from Yost with the news release, who said the "family deserves justice." But nothing in the news release addressed longstanding questions about her disappearance, including why deputies never interviewed Reer after Amanda's family reported her missing and who it was who contacted Corbin and told him Amanda was safe. Yost, the assistant attorney general appointed special prosecutor, Dan Kasaris, and Yost's communications director all did not respond to written questions sent to them earlier this week and again today (Saturday). Binkley also did not respond. State agents executed a search warrant at the Wells Road property in November 2023. Reer is scheduled to be arraigned in the Huron County Common Pleas Court at 1 p.m. on Monday. Corbin did not respond to questions about the arrest or say if he is considering resigning in light of it. In a Facebook post on Aug. 8, Corbin expressed faith in God and confidence that he was good at being sheriff. "I have the records, reports, and state evaluations along with the support of the office to prove I'm doing the job, I swore an oath to do. So help me, God," he wrote. * Editor's note: This story was changed to remove a reference to a TV 19 News report.