Ohio manhunt ends in Selma

Published 11:59 pm Saturday, May 28, 2011

Warrants from Ohio led to the arrest of a Dallas County man Thursday who is now facing numerous charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Dallas County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Mike Grantham said deputies took 36-year-old Robert Crane into custody Thursday at a home on McDaniel Drive on charges originally stemming from Brown County, Ohio.

Though Crane has a history of fleeing law enforcement officers, Grantham said he went peacefully.

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“When we got to the house he was in, a woman ran out screaming, and we asked her which room he was in,” he said. “She pointed to a bedroom where the door was closed. When we kicked in the door, he had his back to us. You could tell he was thinking about (running), but he didn’t.”

According to a release from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Crane was indicted Thursday by a Brown County, Ohio, grand jury related to the March 17 death of his wife, Christine Crane.

Brown County Prosecuting Attorney Jessica A. Little released a statement saying the grand jury handed down an 11-count indictment against Crane, as a result of “an intensive investigation” by detectives Carl Smith, Buddy Moore and Rick Haney of the Brown County Sheriff‘s Office.

The Brown County Department was in contact with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, who actually apprehended Crane, Grantham said.

According to the press release, the investigation revealed that on March 17, as a “proximate result of committing drug offenses, Robert W. Crane caused the death of his wife, Christine Crane, by heroin overdose.“

Grantham said Crane is facing 11 charges, which are: involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony; involuntary manslaughter, a third-degree felony; corrupting another with drugs, a second-degree felony; two counts of possession of heroin, a fifth-degree felony; corrupting another with drugs, a second-degree felony; complicity (trafficking in heroin), a fifth-degree felony; engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony; two counts permitting drug abuse, first-degree misdemeanors; and possessing drug abuse instruments, a second-degree misdemeanor.