VAN WERT — A motion was filed in Van Wert Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, when the attorney for accused murderer Ryan Houser declared his client’s intention to establish an alibi in an attempt to prove his innocence.
In a motion described as “unusual, admittedly,” Lima attorney Kenneth Rexford wrote the state provided him with “no official estimation of the time of death” of the victim in the case, 43-year-old Barbara Granger, except for a case summary from the Lucas County Coroner’s Office which indicates the “date of death” as 10:43 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2023.
While Rexford said the exact time listed in the report “seems dubious,” he noted there are “reasons to believe” that the Sept. 4 date is accurate.
Rexford in his motion states that Houser, 38, intends to present evidence that he was in or near Rockford, Ohio, during the entirety of Sept. 4, 2023, and was not present at the scene of Granger’s murder on West Main Street in Van Wert.
“Again, the issue is the lack of establishment so far of a precise time of death,” Rexford’s motion concluded. “The unavailability of the accused to do the alleged crime does not establish the time of death, but it does establish the relevant time frame of the requirement to provide alibi notice.”
Houser was charged by a grand jury with aggravated murder, an unclassified felony; murder, an unclassified felony; possessing a weapon under disability, a third degree felony, and tampering with evidence, a third degree felony.
Two bullets were recovered from the body of Granger, who has been described as Houser’s girlfriend, during the autopsy performed in Toledo.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 30 in Van Wert Common Pleas Court.
