COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A man and a woman charged with murder were scheduled to appear in court Saturday, two days after they were accused in the beating death of a man.
Anthony Kuhn, 43, and Nichole Adkins, 42, are suspected in the death of the victim who has not been identified. Kuhn also is charged with aggravated robbery, while Adkins faces a charge of tampering with evidence.
Kuhn was held Saturday morning on $2 million bond and his next court date set for May 12.
Adkins refused to appear in court so her initial hearing was moved to Monday, ABC 6’s Jeremiah Wilcox reported.
A 911 caller on Thursday said a home in the 6500 block of Hall Road had been ransacked, but didn’t see the body until later. He told detectives he left around 12:53 a.m. to take a roommate to the hospital. He got back at 3:30 a.m. and found the place ransacked with several items missing, including medication that belonged to a roommate.
The victim was found lying on the floor, with “substantial head injuries, including an open skull fracture, and his right ear was nearly severed from his head,” court documents said.
Detectives said they talked to multiple witnesses, with one saying he was with Kuhn at around 12:30 a.m. in Kuhn’s trailer, which was parked in the driveway.
The witness said Adkins went to another residence to shower around 2 a.m., and Kuhn followed her a few minutes later. He then reported seeing Kuhn return 30 minutes later, looking frantic. He told the witness he couldn’t believe what he had done and said they needed to leave, detectives wrote. The witness said Kuhn never specified what happened in the residence.
He, with Adkins and Kuhn, went to Wedgewood Apartments to buy drugs and then went to a sewer drain basin where Adkins reportedly dumped a wallet and work hat belonging to the victim. The group then went to an apartment complex on Fisher Road, where the witness said Kuhn got rid of medication and baseball cards that he had stolen from the victim, according to court documents.
The witness later guided detectives to the sewer drain basin, and they recovered the wallet and the work hat.
While questioning Adkins, she corroborated the witness and said she heard a commotion inside the residence while showering. She went to check and found Kuhn with blood on his face, holding a baseball bat. She said he handed her the bat and told her he had killed the man.
He also reportedly said he would kill the man who later called 911 to cover it up, court documents say. Adkins reportedly admitted to dumping the wallet and work hat at the sewer drain basin and told detectives that Kuhn threw the bottles of medication, baseball cards, and his own clothes he was wearing in a dumpster at the Fisher Road complex.
Bureau of Criminal Investigations special agents and deputies recovered those items from the dumpster, including a green sweatshirt that the witness described Kuhn as wearing before they left to buy narcotics. The sweatshirt had blood on it.
In an interview with detectives, Kuhn admitted to being in the trailer and admitted to leaving to buy narcotics. He said he knew something had happened to the victim, court documents said, and asked if the man had died. When detectives said yes, Kuhn allegedly asked for an attorney.
