The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office says it’s searching for an Oak Hill man indicted for abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in the overdose death of a man whose body was discovered in the parking lot of McDonald’s back in September.
A grand jury indicted Kevin Blake French, 30, of Oak Hill for Tampering with Evidence; Grand Theft of a Firearm, a third-degree felony, and a fifth-degree felony of Abuse of a Corpse for his involvement in the overdose death of Johnnie Edwards.
Back in September, Oak Hill, Ohio Police responded to a report of an unresponsive man in a vehicle in the parking lot of McDonald’s parking lot. Johnnie Edwards, 39, of Oak Hill, was dead from an overdose.
According to the indictment, Edwards’ girlfriend, Rhonda Stull, and their friend Kevin French bought and used drugs together. When it became clear that Edwards was in trouble, the pair did not call for medical help. Instead, they parked a car with his dead body in the passenger seat in the parking lot of the McDonald’s restaurant on North Jackson Street in Oak Hill and abandoned the body.
The grand jury indicted Stull on one count of Aggravated Murder and one count of Murder, both unclassified felonies. Stull is also facing indictments of Corrupting Another with Drugs, a second-degree felony, and Tampering with Evidence, a third-degree felony.
Stull is in custody. A warrant was issued for French’s arrest. French is described as a Caucasian male, weighing 180 pounds and is 6’1″. He has brown hair and eyes.
Social media commenters have mixed feelings about the charges. Many said officers should be focusing on the drug dealers and not pursuing French while others claimed that French had publicly posted his location on Facebook and that he was currently in Columbus.
If you know the whereabouts of French, you are encouraged to contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office by calling 740-286-6464 or notify your local law enforcement agency.