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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2010 > May > 10
Monday, May 10, 2010
Victim of hammer attack improving; police release investigation summary
On Friday, May 7, I wrote an update to the continuing story of 23-year-old Jamie Belty, who was beaten within an inch of her life during the early morning hours of April 25 by a hammer-wielding boyfriend.
Belty had the beginnings of reconstructive surgery on Tuesday, May 4, and has experienced few set backs.
Keeping family, friends and the media informed is a Facebook page dedicated to spreading word about her condition. As of this writing, it has amazingly more than 2,800 members.
The following is the larger story that ran on Saturday, and includes responses from Berkheimer’s friends, that police have visited Belty and more.
Below that is a copy of the summary of the investigation into the shooting by Hamilton Lt. Scott Scrimizzi. The black marks are expletives that have been redacted, but you get the idea.
Here’s the story:
HAMILTON — The woman beaten with a hammer late last month continues to improve in Miami Valley Hospital, following a nearly seven-hour surgery earlier this week and a recent visit by the local police officer who many say saved her life.
Jamie Belty, 23, of Cincinnati endured reconstructive surgery on Tuesday that left metal plates in her face and her jaw wired shut, according to a post by her sister Samantha Fox on a Facebook page dedicated to communicating to friends and family about her condition.
“She is doing excellent … better than anyone else would be at this point, I think,” Alex Belty, Jamie’s husband from whom she is currently separated, wrote in an e-mail to the JournalNews on Thursday, May 6. “I’ve known her for over seven years and she is the strongest person I’ve ever met. She has the best friends anyone could ask for and countless people praying for her and I know that is what’s keeping her going.”
Police said Jamie Belty, the daughter of Brewster, Ohio, Mayor Dale Fox, was involved in a relationship with Hamilton resident Joshua Berkheimer, 25, when the two met during the early morning hours of April 25.
But something happened shortly after the two came together, as Berk-heimer’s neighbors at the Princeton Square apartment complex called 911 to report increasing sounds of violence.
When Hamilton police opened the unlocked door to Berkheimer’s apartment, the found him atop Belty, beating her in the head and face with a claw hammer.
After Berkheimer disobeyed orders to drop the hammer and continued to swing it, officer Casey Johnson fired one shot into his chest, killing him.
The officers who responded to the call were lauded by Hamilton police officials, who said Johnson followed the department’s use of force procedure.
The investigation into the incident is being reviewed by the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office, which will make a determination in the coming weeks.
Johnson remains on paid administrative leave, per department policy. During his time off earlier this week, Johnson visited Belty in the hospital.
Said Fox in a post Sunday morning, May 2: “The police officers that saved my sister were here to visit!”
Hamilton police Sgt. Craig Bucheit confirmed the appearance, saying it likely was cathartic for both the family and the officer.
“The fact is, Officer Johnson saved that young woman’s life,” Bucheit said. “I would imagine that as a person, that fact provides a measure of comfort to him in coming to terms with what he was forced to do as an officer.”
Friends of Berkheimer are stumped about what would provoke such an attack.
A friend and former co-worker at Transitional Living, where Berkheimer was employed for the past four years, said he was at the agency and within eyeshot of Princeton Square when the incident occurred.
“We see cop cars just swarm the place,” said Jacob Brashear. “I had a gut feeling it had something to do with Josh because he had the only light in the building that was on.
“Then I saw a flash through the window. I didn’t know if he was just taking pictures because he liked to do that.”
Brashear said he joined Berkheimer more than once to take in a horror flick or attend a conference about horror movies with his friend, who he said was “the type of guy everybody wanted to be around. He had a great personality.”
Members of Berkheimer’s family have declined comment since the incident.
However, Brashear said his friend and co-worker had been recently having problems “with racing thoughts and anxiety,” in addition to being on medication for depression. “He would tell me he would go into a store and get real scared and run out and he didn’t know why,” he said.
And here’s the investigative summary:
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News Review: Monday, May 10
The week that was started out with a typical, although crowded, Primary Election. But like most ballot days in Butler County, May 4 was no ordinary day.
Things were going as planned, at least logistically, when the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday … That was until absentee results were posted on the Butler County Board of Elections website.
Then something went wrong, as server after server after server crashed, leaving thousands of county voters in the dark as to election results. Initially, Elections Director Betty McGary and county IT director Greg Sullivan assumed the worst, saying they believed they were under “attack” by an outside source.
Things calmed down a bit as the night went on, and Sullivan and others were able to block the IP address that they thought was causing all the problems.
On Thursday, McGary and Sullivan announced they were pulling in the Butler County Sheriff’s Office to launch an investigation, which could take one to three months.
Late week, I did a story about City Council starting to examine whether to lift a pay freeze implemented in 2007. The response to City Manager Mark Brandenburger’s declaration that he had lost three key department heads to the private sector was to study the situation first. Council may pick a company to study the issue within the next month.
I was the Sunday reporter yesterday, May 9, and had an opportunity to spend part of Mother’s Day with a local mother with a great story to tell.
Christina Powell, mother of three, lost her husband in August 2009 to a heart-related illness. Already struggling financially, the prospect of fixing up her dilapidated 100-year-old home wasn’t good. All told, more than 100 volunteers did an estimated $70,000 worth of work.
