MAN INDICTED FOR MURDERING HIS FRIEND AND THEN ATTEMPTING TO HIDE HER BODY

Posted on 4/19/2017

Defendant: Darryl J. Lee

                                                

            Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said, “Following an argument, this man murdered his friend and then put her body in the backseat of his vehicle.”  Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced today that the Franklin County Grand Jury has returned an indictment against Darryl J. Lee, age 59, for two counts of Murder with Specifications (UF) and one count of Tampering with Evidence (F-3), for a total of three counts in connection to the April 9/10, 2017 murder of Deloris Delona Williams, age 51, that occurred at 1800 Gault Street on the near east side of Columbus.  The victim died as a result of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.  The day after the murder, Lee rolled the victim’s body into a rug and put her in the backseat of his vehicle.  The victim’s daughter had called in a missing person’s report and when officers went to the suspect’s residence, they noted the rolled up rug inside of the vehicle.  “There are two counts of murder in the indictment with only one deceased victim, because under Ohio law, there are different ways to commit the crime of murder and it is my practice to charge all ways that the crime was committed”, O’Brien stated.  O’Brien further stated, “Both murder counts have a Repeat Violent Offender Specification as Lee has a prior Involuntary Manslaughter conviction from an offense that occurred in 1995 in Montgomery County, Ohio.”  Arraignment for Lee is scheduled for this Friday, April 21st, at 1:30 pm in courtroom 2B at 345 S. High Street in downtown Columbus.