Bloody, naked body found in Ohio shed
Police in Columbus, Ohio, investigate the discovery of a bloodied, naked man in a garden shed Monday.
January 18th, 2011
11:22 AM ET

Bloody, naked body found in Ohio shed

Police in Columbus, Ohio, are trying to identify and retrace the final hours of a naked, bloody man found dead in a backyard garden shed.

Someone had knocked on neighbor Dennis Hoover's door at midnight, but Hoover refused to open the door because he couldn't see the man, he told CNN affiliate WBNS-TV.

Hoover called 911 but police could not find anyone, the station reported. Bloody handprints were visible on Hoover's door in the morning.

After daylight, Hoover followed footprints in the snow into a neighbor's yard, where he discovered the bloodied body in the shed.

"He was covered (in blood). It looked like he went through a briar patch," Hoover told WBNS. "Just scratched all up."

Investigators were hoping an autopsy would tell them who the man was and how he was injured.

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Filed under: Crime • Ohio • U.S.
soundoff (333 Responses)
  1. Plato101

    I wonder why the man didn't break a window to get inside the house. Better that than freezing to death.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm | Report abuse |
  2. OMG

    lol you are all fools! Any of you who claim that yo uwould have freely opened the door are full of it!

    January 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm | Report abuse |
  3. mb2010a

    Not very Christian of the homeowner to not open the door. Think bloodied Jesus at the man's front door and he just refused to let Him in. Not very good Karma...there is a parable in the Bible about just this sort of thing.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:33 pm | Report abuse |
    • myklds

      @b2010a...You're NOT that smart, ATHEIST!

      January 18, 2011 at 12:41 pm | Report abuse |
    • nepawoods

      Not very Christian to judge. A knock on the door at midnight and nobody there when you look – the reasonable assumption would be that it's someone up to no good. If you're so Christian as to put your life in jeopardy on the small chance you could be helping someone in need, you'd probably not be alive to post here.

      January 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Ro

    This is very sad, that he had to spent his final day on earth this way, and he was obviously looking for a warm place and sought the shed out to die. Horrific. God rest his soul.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:33 pm | Report abuse |
  5. MarkPro

    Ohio is rapidly becoming the most dangerous Red State! What's going on there?

    January 18, 2011 at 12:34 pm | Report abuse |
    • OMG

      actually, it just seems to be columnus which is the heart of the BLUE franklin county – Mayor Coleman should be proud!!

      January 18, 2011 at 12:38 pm | Report abuse |
  6. Sebastian

    No shortage of depressing news to come out of Ohio – Arizona thanks you.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:34 pm | Report abuse |
  7. OMG

    with all these people willing to open their door at the knocking, or banging, of a door, why do the homeless or deranged even use shelters? They should just knock upon doors in the suburbs after midnight and enjoy the comforts of a man's home and family...

    January 18, 2011 at 12:35 pm | Report abuse |
    • mb2010a

      If more of the homeless did exactly that, there would probably be a lot less homeless people,,,

      January 18, 2011 at 12:39 pm | Report abuse |
    • WhatAGeniusWeHaveHere

      Oh really? Where, exactly, does it say that the bloody man was told by the homeowner that he was calling the police? I'm pretty sure most people who hear a knock but don't find anyone at their door probably don't go about talking to thin air. The homeowner most likely checked the front door, did not find anyone, and walked away to call the police. If I were the man knocking at the door, injured and cold, and nobody was answering my knock, I would likely go elsewhere as well. First to other houses (as the neighbors say the man did), and then to seek shelter from the cold... perhaps in a nearby shed? There are many possible reasons the situation played out as it did... Way to make judgmental assumptions based (quite illogically) on the few facts given.

      January 18, 2011 at 1:58 pm | Report abuse |
  8. OMG

    so he bangs on a door, is told by the homeowner that he is calling the police, and then runs and hides in a shed? That's all i need to know. case closed. Why ddnt he wait for help?

    January 18, 2011 at 12:36 pm | Report abuse |
  9. myklds

    He was held-up, stripped and stabbed/shot.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:36 pm | Report abuse |
  10. L

    What Hoover did was right in this case the police officer's did not do a thorough job especially if bloody handprints were on the front door the next morning.....

    January 18, 2011 at 12:37 pm | Report abuse |
  11. JEH

    This is absolutely the fault of the police. How could they not see blood on the door if they came to the house? The guy should not have answered his door if he felt unsafe. He has an obligation to his family. I can't say what I would have done in this situation but he called the police, they should have done something.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:39 pm | Report abuse |
  12. danny

    HOw far away was his house from the donut shop! I know in my little hometown if you do not come to a complete stop at the onlu flashing light in town you get harrassed by the cops however I do not think a robbery has been solved in twenty years.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:41 pm | Report abuse |
  13. Lilarose in Oregon

    I don't think I would want the majority of posters to be the jury at my trial. There is an article. One fairly short article. I am amazed at how many interpretations posters have of this story! Having said that, I feel for the dead guy. I am anxious to hear what actually happened to him.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm | Report abuse |
  14. Ron St. Louis

    What does it say of a society that is too afraid to open their door to a person in need? Hurt, scared, and cold, he died in a shed trying to stay warm because no one would call out to him and help.

    January 18, 2011 at 12:43 pm | Report abuse |
  15. Ken

    The police screwed up here. Not necessarily responsible for his death, but perhaps they had a role in it.

    The homeowner called the police, the came, and didn't find anyone/anything. Did they have a flashlight? Did they go to the door? Shouldn't they have seem the bloody hand prints? Wouldn't bloody hand prints lead them to investigate more? Seems like they could of found the guy during the night, not the following morning. It may or may not have change the course of the victims life, but can't help but think it may have....

    January 18, 2011 at 12:43 pm | Report abuse |
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