Christian Stephen Fuhr

Case record

Status / Outcome

Christian Stephen Fuhr was sentenced to death on August 27, 2002.

Timeline

• November 28, 2001 — Columbus police arrested 33-year-old Christian Stephen Fuhr and charged him with the murders of two women.
• November 29, 2001 — Christian Fuhr was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Shawna L. Sowers and Lisa A. Crow; he was also a suspect in the slaying of Kimberly Rodgers.
• November 30, 2001 — Christian Fuhr made his initial appearance in Franklin County Municipal Court on charges that he murdered two South Side women.
• January 28, 2000 — Christian Fuhr pleaded guilty to domestic violence.
• May 1992 — Christian Fuhr was released from prison after serving 28 months on a conviction of possession of stolen property.
• August 1999 — Terri D. Byers and Christian Fuhr married.
• May — Terri D. Byers’ divorce from Christian Fuhr became final; she was granted custody of their son.
• Unknown date (reported in the record) — Christian Fuhr’s case was resolved by sentencing to death on August 27, 2002.

Background

Christian Stephen Fuhr was a tree trimmer. Columbus police previously questioned him and released him. After police had just questioned him for the second time, taken his blood, and scoured his truck for evidence, he was sent home, and he later gloated to his Whitehall neighbors that he was no longer a suspect in the slayings.

Fuhr married Terri D. Byers in August 1999. Byers said Fuhr’s cocaine addiction destroyed their marriage. She reported periods of violence during their relationship and described domestic disturbances; the divorce file showed a history of domestic disturbances in the household.

Byers stated that she met Fuhr about four years earlier when he moved to Columbus from New York. Byers said she discovered Fuhr was a cocaine addict shortly after the birth of their son. She described his disappearances and his refusal to say where he had been.

Byers said she needed to see Fuhr’s court appearance and said she did not want to wait for the noon news.

The offence

Christian Fuhr was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Shawna L. Sowers and Lisa A. Crow. He was also a suspect in the slaying of Kimberly Rodgers.

The victims were described as white women found within a half-mile of one another between Nov. 7 and the day before the arrest reporting described last Thursday. Police and the Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis refused to be specific about the cause of death, but the record describes:

• Kimberly Rodgers was strangled. Her body was found Nov. 7 in a cornfield off Groveport Road.
• Shawna L. Sowers had a broken neck. Her body was found Nov. 18 at a construction site 30 yards away.
• Lisa A. Crow was found behind a business at 2270 S. High St. Crow’s mother said a funeral director told her Crow was strangled, while Lewis said Crow suffered “blunt trauma.” Crow had four children.

Crow was last seen alive with Fuhr in the area where her body was found Thanksgiving Day behind a business at 2270 S. High St.

Investigation

Columbus detectives identified the location where Crow’s body was found on Thanksgiving. Police were led to Fuhr on Thanksgiving morning through a pickup truck found near Ohio Wire Form and Spring on S. High Street, where Crow’s body had been discovered that morning. The truck belonged to Fuhr’s boss, Terry Laymon, who told investigators he loaned the truck to Fuhr a couple days before the arrest reporting and “the day before Thanksgiving.”

Police camped outside Fuhr’s mobile home in Old Trailer Court off E. Main Street and questioned Fuhr with the aid of neighbors.

Detectives obtained samples of Fuhr’s blood on Monday through a court-ordered search warrant. The tests were expected to provide DNA samples for trial, and police were still waiting for test results such as DNA evidence.

Detectives removed eight bags of evidence from Fuhr’s rented mobile home in the Old Trailer Court, 3737 E. Main St., Whitehall.

Police said physical evidence would link Fuhr to Sowers’ death, but they did not elaborate.

Police also thought they had evidence in a pickup truck Fuhr borrowed from his employer the day before Thanksgiving. The truck was found abandoned with a flat tire, and Crow’s body was found nearby next to a trash bin.

Police had called in the FBI and sent out a nationwide computer alert about the unsolved slayings. Police spokesman Sgt. Earl W. Smith said they solved the case without help from outside agencies.

Sgt. Earl W. Smith said detectives knew Fuhr was a suspect and that investigators pursued other leads as well; he also said detectives learned that Fuhr associated with prostitutes and was known to be a crack user.

A homicide detective, Michael McCann, said “There’s not much in there” about the mobile home.

Arrest

Fuhr agreed to come to Central Police Headquarters for a third interview. Detectives, communicating by radio, followed Fuhr in several vehicles to the interview. Once inside, Fuhr reportedly asked for a lawyer. He was arrested after 3 p.m.

Fuhr denied responsibility for the slayings at his initial appearance.

Trial / Court proceedings

Fuhr made his initial appearance in Franklin County Municipal Court while his ex-wife, Terri D. Byers, sat in the front row. Byers left the courthouse and stated: “He makes me sick” and “Christian is a very mentally ill man.”

Fuhr had cooperated with Columbus police, according to a public defender, Max Sutton.

A public defender, Max Sutton, said that Fuhr denied responsibility and that Fuhr “totally and vehemently denies these charges.”

Fuhr kept his head up and looked straight ahead as his case was announced.

Assistant Prosecutor Dale Blankenship requested that Fuhr be held without bail or with a very high bail. Municipal Judge Scott D. VanDerKarr set bail at $1 million.

Court documents verified that Crow had been strangled and was last seen alive with Fuhr in the area where her body was found Thanksgiving Day behind a business at 2270 S. High St.

Terri D. Byers said she was hoping there would be no bond at all and said: “Why the judge did that, I have no idea.”

Byers approached a crying woman related to one of the victims and said: “I told her I’m so sorry. I feel so bad, and there’s nothing I can do about it. . . . I’m shaking,” followed by “Byers, looking down at her trembling hands.”

Fuhr’s girlfriend, Ammie Turos, left the courtroom in tears with her mother and declined to comment.

Sentencing

Christian Fuhr was sentenced to death on August 27, 2002.

Appeals

No appeals information was present in the provided record.

Outcome

Aftermath / Related details

New York records showed Fuhr served 28 months in prison on a conviction of possession of stolen property and was released in May 1992.

The record described multiple bars and witnesses’ descriptions of Fuhr:

• At the New Point Tavern, 2631 Parsons Ave., bartender Gary Maynard said: “He was friendly, never caused problems,” and: “When I seen that on the news, it blew me away.”
• Gary Maynard said of the charges: “He was friendly, never caused problems,” and additionally: “Everybody said all along, ‘It’s gonna be someone we know,’” and: “On the south end, everybody knows everybody.”
• A bartender at the Friendly Tavern, 1766 Parsons Ave., said Fuhr made only one visit and that Fuhr came in by himself one day last week and was “kissing on” two women at the bar. The bartender said the three left together and returned after a couple of hours. The bartender said Fuhr approached another woman and kissed her, biting her lip, and that Fuhr “biting her lip” led to the bartender’s account; the bartender stated Fuhr eventually left by himself. The bartender asked not to be named.
• After detectives stopped at the Friendly Tavern to ask about Fuhr’s visit, the bartender said detectives showed them a photograph of Crow, the third homicide victim.

Neighbors in his Whitehall trailer park described him differently:

• One neighbor said Fuhr was “arrogant and quick-tempered” and: “If he didn’t think he was the best, he’d try to be,” the neighbor said.

To girlfriend Ammie Turos, Fuhr was described as a perfect gentleman during the three months they had dated; Turos said: “I can’t say a bad thing about him,” and the couple argued about where he had been the night before Thanksgiving. Turos stated she loaned Fuhr her cellphone and tried to call him numerous times on Nov. 21, but he never answered. Turos said she did not hear from him until about 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving, when he called asking for a ride and she refused.

On convictions involving prostitution, the record said:

• Police said all three victims were prostitutes.
• Crow was described as having no convictions for prostitution, but Jean Crow said she was involved in it.
• Despite publicity, six female prostitutes, including five on the South Side, were arrested this week, according to jail records.

The record included a quote from Fuhr’s neighbor, Thomas Ward, recalling Fuhr’s statement: “I’m vindicated. They don’t have nothing on me.”

A quote from Terri D. Byers described police following them in an unmarked car with tinted windows: “I was giving him a ride to his trailer, and they were following us,” and: “It was an unmarked car with tinted windows. There was no mistaking it.”

Byers said she was granted custody of their son, who was nearly 2 years old, and later said about the son’s future: “I have no idea what I’m going to tell his son when he grows up.”

Byers quoted her view of Fuhr’s domestic violence: “He choked me one time, and it was for about five seconds and it wasn’t bad enough where I couldn’t breathe,” and: “Cocaine owned Christian,” and: “He couldn’t say no.”

Byers stated: “He’d get upset like any husband and we’d bicker, but for him to kill someone? No, I can’t imagine him doing that,” she said.