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Home > Blogs > Dayton area crime > Archives > 2010 > March > 02 > Entry
Men found dead near creek weren’t there long, coroner says
JEFFERSON TWP., Montgomery County - The bodies of two men meticulously placed next to a rural creek last week had been there only hours before they were found by a nearby landowner, investigators said today, March 2.
Homicide detectives continue to follow leads in the bizarre shooting deaths of Harvey Sims Jr., 54, and Nathan E. Gay, 49, but have no suspects, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Maj. Dave Hale said.
Montgomery County Coroner James Davis said the bodies had been placed near the creek less than eight hours before they were found about 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Both men were shot multiple times, including at least once execution-style in their heads, investigators said. The bodies were carried by foot down to the creek bank and then placed near the water, Landis said. It’s the placement of the bodies that has the attention of detectives because the killer(s) could have easily tossed them off the bridge and into the creek.
Sims and Gay might have been killed somewhere else and their bodies then driven to a creek that runs perpendicular to the 2700 block of Germantown-Liberty Road, Chief Deputy Scott Landis said
Sheriff’s investigators believe the victims were not homeless and might have stayed in government-subsidized housing or with friends before their deaths.
Detectives are looking for any surveillance video of the men that might help establish a time line of when they were last seen alive, Landis said.
“We are following up leads and making progress,” he said. “This is an unusual case so we are not ruling anything out.”
It is unclear how the men knew each other. Both men have extensive arrest records and are known to the Dayton Police Department, according to numerous police reports.
Sims was arrested multiple times in November on misdemeanor panhandling charges, but was known to police as someone who used drugs and associated with those who dealt in drugs, according to Dayton police reports.
Gay has also been arrested more than once for possessing drugs and/or instruments for drug use, according to police reports.
Sims and Gay are the eighth and ninth homicide victims in the county this year. You can track the investigation into their deaths and all others since 2008 by clicking here.
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