Prosecutor says he’s ‘100 percent certain’ body found is missing West Chester woman

Michael A. Strouse WEST CHESTER POLICE

Michael A. Strouse WEST CHESTER POLICE

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said he is “100 certain” the body found in a West Chester Twp. field Friday afternoon is that of 23-year-old Ellen Weik.

And the prosecutor said it was his decision to charge Michael Strouse with murder early Saturday morning after questioning by police.

“I do not want this fellow out on the street … I didn’t want to take any chances,” Gmoser told the JournalNews on Sunday.

The prosecutor declined to say what statements Strouse made to detectives. According to West Chester police, the 29-year-old Liberty Twp. man was charged at 4 a.m. on Saturday.

Strouse lives at 6054 Bluffs Drive, not far from where the body was found Friday on Millikin Road.

West Chester police said the investigation into Weik’s disappearance led them to the body, but could not confirm last week if it is Weik.

While a autopsy performed by the Butler County Coroner’s Office will determine positive identify, Gmoser said, “I am 100 percent confident that is her based on the evidence I have circumstantially”

Gmoser also said, “I know enough of the circumstances of the case for the charge of murder.”

Strouse was convicted in 2015 for public indecency for exposing himself to a woman in the Voice of America shopping center. He was placed on one year probation and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and follow up treatment, according to Butler County Area Two court records.

West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said Friday his officers would be “following up feverishly” to search for additional evidence that connects the body to Weik or to another crime.

The chief said tips led authorities to the Millikin Road location.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, FBI and Butler County sheriff’s office assisted, Herzog said.

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