POMEROY, Ohio — An Ohio man admitted in court to strangling a Kanawha County teenager and leaving her body along the Ohio River last year as family searched for her.
Ernest Roach, 36, of Racine, didn’t say much during Thursday’s hearing in Pomeroy, Ohio. He offered neither an explanation nor an apology in the death of Ericka Brown, 16, of Cross Lanes.
The two met on Craigslist after Brown, a sophomore at Nitro High School, posted an ad seeking money for sex. The slaying occurred on their second encounter—Aug. 10, 2014. Roach has never given a motive for the killing.
“He actually didn’t provide exact facts as to how it happened. He had indicated that he had become angry at some things she had done,” Meigs County prosecutor Colleen Williams said.
Brown’s body was wrapped in a tarp and tied to a concrete block when police found her near Portland, Ohio. Brown’s older sister, Nicole Abboud, took aim at Roach when given the opportunity to speak Thursday.
“He let us search for her for 20 very long days and I believe he would have let us search for her forever if her body had not been found. Ernest Roach has no heart,” Abboud said as Roach bowed his head.
The victim’s parents, David and Elizabeth Brown, told the court in a written statement that they are “two empty souls walking this earth.” They urged reporters covering the hearing to put the focus on what Roach did and not on the decision their daughter made.
“He let us search for her for 20 very long days and I believe he would have let us search for her forever if her body had not been found. Ernest Roach has no heart.” — Nicole Abboud, the victim’s sister
“Ericka Brown was a young 16-year-old victim that made a mistake. That mistake cost her her life,” Meigs County Victim Assistance Director Theda Petrasko said reading from the parents’ statement. “Ericka is the victim and the focus should be on what Ernest Roach has done and not on a 16-year-old girl who lost her life.”
Judge I. Carson Crow sentenced Roach to the maximum 19 years-to-life prison term after he pleaded guilty to murder, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
The plea allows Roach, a bricklayer by trade, to have an hour a day to smoke cigarettes while being held in the Meigs County Jail.
Williamson gave credit to investigators with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department who followed up on the initial missing persons report and discovered, by using phone records, the communication between Brown and Roach.
The investigators initially made contact with Roach. He skipped a second meeting and was arrested in Washington County, Ohio. Brown’s body was found a short time later.