MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Two Middletown men have been arrested and face multiple charges after the body of a pregnant woman was found inside a plastic tote in Montgomery County, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office said the body of 28-year-old Brittany Fuhr-Storms was discovered by people walking along Fort Anthony Road in Jackson Township on Sunday, August 3. Police responded to the scene at around 7:47 p.m. that evening.
An autopsy revealed that Fuhr-Storms was pregnant when she died, and the child did not survive, the sheriff's office said.
Officials learned Furh-Storms' was last known to live in Franklin. From there, investigators obtained information that led them to Middletown, the sheriff's office said.
On August 6, Middletown police and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office executed a narcotics search warrant at a home on Logan Avenue, where James Rothenbusch lived, according to the sheriff's office.
In the home, investigators found narcotics and other drug paraphernalia — along with "items related to the death investigation" of Fuhr-Storms, the sheriff's office said.
Rothenbusch admitted to law enforcement that Fuhr-Storms died inside his home "under suspicious circumstances" and he'd kept her body in the home for days before it was disposed of in Montgomery County, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators then located and arrested Rick Sheppard on Baltimore Street in Middletown; Sheppard also admitted to police that Fuhr-Storms died in Rothenbusch's home "and that her body remained there for nearly a week," the sheriff's office said.
Rothenbusch is now facing several charges. He faces one count each of corrupting another with drugs, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, trafficking in drugs, possession of drugs, failure to report a crime or death and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sheppard is facing charges of gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
The sheriff's office said both men admitted they knew Fuhr-Storms was pregnant at the time.
