Ex-Morgue Worker Admits To Sex With More Bodies

CINCINNATI -- A former Hamilton County morgue worker already convicted of sexually abusing corpses has admitted to having sex with two more bodies.

Kenneth Douglas, 56, of Westwood, pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual abuse of a corpse on Monday.

Douglas is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for sexually abusing the body of a female murder victim in 1982. Earlier this year, he was charged with abusing two bodies in 1991.

The arrest of Douglas helped solve a 25-year-old mystery in the murder of 19-year-old Karen Range, of Roselawn.

David Joseph Steffen, a door-to-door salesman, was sentenced to death for stabbing and nearly beheading Range during an attempted rape. The 1982 autopsy on Range's body showed that she had been sexually assaulted.

However, it was never determined who committed the crime. Tests eventually ruled out both Steffen and Range's fiance.

The trail was cold until March, 2008, when Douglas was convicted of a drug trafficking charge and a sample of his DNA was taken.

The results were placed in the COTUS national databank and a match was indicated with the DNA from evidence on Range's body.

After Range was murdered, her body was taken to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office and checked in by Douglas, according to Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.

Douglas worked as an attendant in the coroner's office from 1976 to 1992.

He will be sentenced on the new charges on December 9.