Summer Inman:William Inman Jr, his Father & Mother have been charged with Summer's murder & kidnapping/Jury finds Inman Jr & Mother guilty on all counts & sentences life w/out parole. Inman Sr sentenced to life w/out parole

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Judge hears request from Summer Inman’s husband for new trial
Tuesday July 10, 2012 11:19 PM

A judge is considering a new trial for a man convicted of killing his estranged wife, who was found strangled in a southeastern Ohio septic tank last year.

Hocking County Judge John Wallace heard arguments on Monday in the case of William Inman II. He was convicted last month of aggravated murder and other charges in 25-year-old Summer Inman’s death.

His attorneys had filed a motion claiming a witness’ criminal background was not disclosed before he testified against their client. They say the new information tarnishes the credibility of the witness.

County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf declined to comment today.

Inman’s mother pleaded guilty last month to murder and other charges. Sandra Inman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Sandra Inman’s husband also is charged in the case.

Thanks PFF for posting this. I wonder which wittiness they are talking about?

I have no idea. I wonder why that would really make a difference if the person saw what happened. Hope more comes out about this, as I am sure it will.

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Judge Denies Inman's Request For Retrial


A Hocking County judge has denied a request for a new trial by the man convicted of kidnapping and killing his estranged wife in March 2011.

By: Denise Yost | NBC4
Published: July 11, 2012

LOGAN, Ohio --

A Hocking County judge has denied a request for a new trial by the man convicted of kidnapping and killing his estranged wife in March 2011.

William Inman II was sentenced to life in prison without parole in June after a Hocking County jury in Logan found him guilty of aggravated murder and other charges in the slaying of his 25-year-old wife, Summer.

Judge John Wallace denied the request Wednesday morning.

Authorities said she was abducted in March 2011, then strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank in nearby Athens County.

The defense team argued earlier this week that Inman should get a retrial because the criminal history of witness Tony Matheny was not disclosed to jurors. Attorneys claimed that they could have used his conviction to question his credibility.

Matheny testified that he saw the William Inman II in a white Ford Crown Victoria in Logan the same day Summer was kidnapped.

The state said that even without the testimony in question, they still had a strong case.

The trial for Sandra Inman was scheduled to begin Monday, but she already made a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to kidnapping and murder. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

William Inman Sr. is scheduled to go to trial in August.

:cheering: :celebration:

Yes that is good news :cheering:

By: DENISE YOST | NBC4
Published: August 07, 2012

LOGAN, Ohio --
Attorneys for a man accused of kidnapping and killing his daughter-in-law have requested a change of venue.

The attorneys for William Inman Sr. filed the motion of a change of venue, claiming that widespread and detailed media coverage will prevent a fair and impartial jury in Hocking County.

Inman is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, murder, tampering with evidence, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of 25-year-old Summer Inman.

He has pleaded not guilty and may face the death penalty if convicted.

Authorities said Summer was abducted in March 2011, then strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank in nearby Athens County.

Inman's son was convicted and sentenced to life without parole on June 15.

The elder Inman's wife, Sandra, made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

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Glad you saw this article Wrap. I can't get on the Dispatch Newspaper anymore and I did a Google Alert on her and it has not come through.

I wonder why???

Praying For Faith wrote:Glad you saw this article Wrap. I can't get on the Dispatch Newspaper anymore and I did a Google Alert on her and it has not come through.

Off topic: Something happened about a week ago when using Google Chrome. Couldn't read my inbox on laptop in South Carolina while using Google. Went to IExplorer and could read it. Then came home to Ohio, same issue on PC and laptop at home, have had to use IE ever since so I could read my email in the inbox. Somebody did an update somewhere I would suppose and there are glitches now. JMO.

Glad about the good news concerning this case.

Off topic: Something happened about a week ago when using Google Chrome. Couldn't read my inbox on laptop in South Carolina while using Google. Went to IExplorer and could read it. Then came home to Ohio, same issue on PC and laptop at home, have had to use IE ever since so I could read my email in the inbox. Somebody did an update somewhere I would suppose and there are glitches now. JMO.

TR, That is why I try not to use IE anymore. I use Firefox and have Goggle Chrome as a backup.

My problem is that the Dispatch which I would so much rather read than my own paper is limiting their access to it. I just might end up paying per month to have access to it.

Praying For Faith wrote:

Off topic: Something happened about a week ago when using Google Chrome. Couldn't read my inbox on laptop in South Carolina while using Google. Went to IExplorer and could read it. Then came home to Ohio, same issue on PC and laptop at home, have had to use IE ever since so I could read my email in the inbox. Somebody did an update somewhere I would suppose and there are glitches now. JMO.

TR, That is why I try not to use IE anymore. I use Firefox and have Goggle Chrome as a backup.

My problem is that the Dispatch which I would so much rather read than my own paper is limiting their access to it. I just might end up paying per month to have access to it.

Oh, I thought maybe it was your browser too. I haven't used IE for at least a year now. Been using Google Chrome all the time until last week when it got those glitches and IE was my backup that worked where google did not. WOW internet changed its email setup at that time and it appears that Google Chrome is not fully compatible with that. Haven't had the time to figure it all out, but that is what happened to me.

By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday August 22, 2012 9:29 PM

LOGAN, Ohio — Sandra Inman sobbed when a deputy sheriff told her they had found exactly what she said would be found in the septic tank behind the church where her family once prayed.

Protruding above the surface of the fetid liquid was a foot clad in a sock — the foot of her daughter-in-law, the mother of her grandchildren.

She and her husband hadn’t planned to kill Summer Inman, she said. They only intended to talk with her about visitation issues, and that they thought their grandchildren might have been abused, amid Summer’s contentious divorce from their son, William “Will” Inman II.

But Will had placed a plastic zip tie around Summer’s neck while in the back seat of the car after she and her husband, William “Bill” Inman, helped grab her off the streets of Logan on March 22, 2011.

Will had panicked, blacked out, when they neared the church outside Nelsonville because he couldn’t find a knife to cut off the zip ties around his wife’s neck and wrists before they disposed of the body of the 25-year-old.

The details of Sandra Inman’s 34-minute statement that led to Summer Inman’s body emerged for the first time today as Bill Inman fights the death penalty that he could face if convicted in a trial that begins on Tuesday.

Matt Speckman, former chief deputy sheriff of Hocking County, took the stand to testify about his March 29, 2011, talk with Sandra Inman and was questioned by a defense attorney for Bill Inman.

Speckman said that she “hemmed and hawed” on details and that he did not believe she was being totally truthful. “She tried to minimize her husband’s involvement,” Speckman said.

Attorney Andrew Stevenson argued that his client should not face lethal injection because Sandra Inman fulfilled her part of a bargain in which a prosecutor agreed her husband and son would not face the death penalty.

But Assistant Ohio Attorney General Paul Scarsella argued in Hocking County Common Pleas Court that the deal was not binding because Sandra Inman was not totally truthful and refused to talk further with authorities.

Stevenson countered that 147 of 151 “points” made by Sandra Inman during her statement were largely confirmed by testimony at the trial of her son. Judge John T. Wallace has not yet ruled on the motion to remove the death penalty as a possibility if Bill Inman is convicted.

The younger Inman, 27, was convicted on June 12 of aggravated murder and other charges in his wife’s death, with jurors setting aside a potential death sentence in favor of life imprisonment.

Sandra Inman, 47, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges on June 28 and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Stevenson said that prosecutors do not like the “who” of Sandra Inman’s statement, her indication that her son killed Summer, as they attempt to send Bill Inman, 48, to Death Row. Jurors could sentence him to death even if they don’t believe he was the “hands-on” killer.

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Published 4:03 a.m., Thursday, August 23, 2012

LOGAN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of strangling his daughter-in-law and leaving her body in a septic tank has asked a judge to remove the death penalty as a possible punishment if he is convicted.

Attorneys for William Inman told Hocking County Common Pleas Court Judge John Wallace on Wednesday that a plea deal prosecutors made with Inman's wife prevents the state from pursuing the death penalty against him.

He is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 2011 murder of 25-year-old Summer Cook Inman.

Authorities said Summer Inman was abducted, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church. Inman's wife and son already have been convicted in the slaying, which prosecutors say was motivated by a child custody fight.

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William Inman Sr. Hearing Continues
LOGAN -- The judge in the William Inman Sr. murder trial says he'll decide Thursday whether to take the death penalty off the table.

Inman is charged with killing his daughter-in-law, Summer, then dumping her body in a septic tank in 2011.

Defense attorneys are questioning those involved in initial plea negotiations involving Inman's wife, Sandra, for her role in the murder.

Sandra Inman eventually agreed to testify against her husband in exchange for a 15-years-to-life prison sentence.

Inman Sr.'s lawyers say prosecutors' initial deal with Sandra Inman included an assurance that neither she, nor her co-defendants (William Sr. and the couple's son, William Jr.) would face the death penalty.

Prosecutors say that deal was invalidated when Sandra Inman cut an interview short, declined to provide truthful answers, and initially pleaded not-guilty by reason of insanity, before changing her plea to guilty.

A former Sandra Inman attorney, Bill Henderson, testified Monday that he was involved in plea negotiations that included a sentence of 12-years-to-life for Sandra Inman, as well as an assurance that "the state will not pursue the death penalty against the co-defendants."

In cross examination, prosecutors asked Henderson why he would make such a deal, since the prison term is three years less than the 15-years-to-life mandatory murder sentence in the state of Ohio.

Henderson testified that he anticipated the deal would be "tweaked" when the case went to court -- and was then told he breached the deal early on when his client first pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, instead of guilty to murder.

A jury found William Inman Jr., guilty in June for the murder of his
wife; he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Jury selection in William Sr.'s trial is expected to begin Thursday, after the judge rules on the motion to remove the death penalty from consideration.

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video at above link.

LOGAN, Ohio — Sandra Inman sobbed when a deputy sheriff told her they had found exactly what she said would be found in the septic tank behind the church where her family once prayed.

Protruding above the surface of the fetid liquid was a foot clad in a sock — the foot of her daughter-in-law, the mother of her grandchildren.

She and her husband hadn’t planned to kill Summer Inman, she said. They only intended to talk with her about visitation issues, and that they thought their grandchildren might have been abused, amid Summer’s contentious divorce from their son, William “Will” Inman II.

But Will had placed a plastic zip tie around Summer’s neck while in the back seat of the car after she and her husband, William “Bill” Inman, helped grab her off the streets of Logan on March 22, 2011.

Will had panicked, blacked out, when they neared the church outside Nelsonville because he couldn’t find a knife to cut off the zip ties around his wife’s neck and wrists before they disposed of the body of the 25-year-old.

The details of Sandra Inman’s 34-minute statement that led to Summer Inman’s body emerged for the first time today as Bill Inman fights the death penalty that he could face if convicted in a trial that begins on Tuesday.

Matt Speckman, former chief deputy sheriff of Hocking County, took the stand to testify about his March 29, 2011, talk with Sandra Inman and was questioned by a defense attorney for Bill Inman.

Speckman said that she “hemmed and hawed” on details and that he did not believe she was being totally truthful. “She tried to minimize her husband’s involvement,” Speckman said.

Attorney Andrew Stevenson argued that his client should not face lethal injection because Sandra Inman fulfilled her part of a bargain in which a prosecutor agreed her husband and son would not face the death penalty.

But Assistant Ohio Attorney General Paul Scarsella argued in Hocking County Common Pleas Court that the deal was not binding because Sandra Inman was not totally truthful and refused to talk further with authorities.

Stevenson countered that 147 of 151 “points” made by Sandra Inman during her statement were largely confirmed by testimony at the trial of her son. Judge John T. Wallace has not yet ruled on the motion to remove the death penalty as a possibility if Bill Inman is convicted.

The younger Inman, 27, was convicted on June 12 of aggravated murder and other charges in his wife’s death, with jurors setting aside a potential death sentence in favor of life imprisonment.

Sandra Inman, 47, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges on June 28 and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Stevenson said that prosecutors do not like the “who” of Sandra Inman’s statement, her indication that her son killed Summer, as they attempt to send Bill Inman, 48, to Death Row. Jurors could sentence him to death even if they don’t believe he was the “hands-on” killer.
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Trial set to start in septic tank body case

Updated 5:55 a.m., Tuesday, August 28, 2012

LOGAN, Ohio (AP) — A man charged with aggravated murder in the death of his daughter-in-law who was found strangled in a septic tank is set to go on trial in Ohio.

Jury selection in William Inman's trial began Tuesday morning in Logan in Hocking County in southeast Ohio.

Inman is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 2011 slaying of 25-year-old Summer Inman. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted.

Inman's wife and son were convicted earlier this year in the slaying.

Authorities said Summer Inman was abducted, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church. She had filed for divorce from Inman's son and was seeking custody of the couple's three small children.

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Credit: NBC4

By: ANDY LONG | NBC4
Published: August 29, 2012
Updated: August 29, 2012 - 6:37 PM

LOGAN, Ohio --
A Hocking County judge has granted a motion to change venue in the trial of William A. Inman Sr.

According to the Logan Daily News, William Inman’s attorneys renewed their motion for change a change of venue after it became apparent that not enough jurors would be seated in time.

A total of 340 potential jurors filled out questionnaires on Thursday. Sixty potential jurors were received a letter telling them that would be called back.

Judge Wallace granted the defense’s motion, according to the paper.

Inman is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 2011 slaying of 25-year-old Summer Inman. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted.

Inman's wife and son were convicted earlier this year in the slaying.

Authorities said Summer Inman was abducted, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church. She had filed for divorce from Inman's son and was seeking custody of the couple's three small children.

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Attorneys Suggest New Locations For Elder Inman's Trial

LOGAN, Ohio --
Defense attorneys and prosecutors are trying to decide where the trial of William A. Inman Sr. should be moved after a judge granted a change of venue request Wednesday.

Inman is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 2011 slaying of 25-year-old Summer Inman. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted.

After two days of questioning 65 potential jurors, 59 had been excused from serving.

Judge John T. Wallace decided that it would be difficult to find the 60 jurors needed within the two week time limit. Only six potential jurors cleared the pre-trial publicity phase of the questioning.

The defense again made a motion for a change of venue, and Wallace agreed.

The defense and prosecution must submit possible counties for the new location of the trial.

The court said that bigger counties like Franklin County are not out of the question.

The court said that a larger city would have more courtrooms available and larger pool of people from which to choose, who might not know about the case.

In a smaller county, it would be more difficult to move a judge from his courtroom in order to have the trial.

Wallace said location suggestions are due by Sept. 7.

Wallace also said that he wants the case to be finished by the end of the year.

Inman's wife and son were convicted earlier this year in the slaying.

Authorities said Summer Inman was abducted, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church. She had filed for divorce from Inman's son and was seeking custody of the couple's three small children.

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Mistrial Declared For Man Accused Of Masterminding Daughter-In-Law’s Death

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I hope that justice is served eventually. I would hate to see that this man got off. He certainly is not innocent in my eyes. MOO!

Nelsonville, Ohio is not a very big place. So I am not surprised that they had trouble seating a jury.

Nelsonville is a city in northwestern Athens County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,392 at the 2010 census. Hocking College is located in Nelsonville.

Thanks lisette for posting the update, I miss be able to access the Columbus dispatch when I want to.

Trial Of Elder Inman Moved To Ross County

By: DENISE YOST | NBC4
Published: September 11, 2012
Updated: September 11, 2012 - 11:16 AM

LOGAN, Ohio --
A judge has decided that the trial of William A. Inman will be moved to Ross County.

Inman is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 2011 slaying of 25-year-old Summer Inman. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted.

Judge John T. Wallace granted a change of venue request in late August, after deciding that it was too difficult to find a jury in Hocking County.

The defense and prosecution submitted possible counties for the new location of the trial last week.

Prosecutors requested the trial be moved to Ross County, with the trial beginning in January 2013.

Defense attorneys requested the case be moved to Franklin County, with the trial to begin in December 2012.

The judge said that he considered Delaware, Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery and Ross counties as possible locations for a new trial.

Wallace said he wanted to select a location that was as close and similar as possible to Hocking County.

Franklin, Hamilton and Montgomery counties were dismissed because, the judge said, they are large, urban counties which are dissimilar to Hocking County. The judge also anticipated significant costs associated with holding the trial in those three counties.

Judge Wallace continued, saying that Delaware County was dismissed because it is some distance from Logan, and that it becomes more urbanized every year.

Ross County was selected, according to court documents, because of the close location and similarity to Hocking County.

The judge said that when he visited Chillicothe, he informally polled several persons and their responses convinced him that a jury could be seated in Ross County.

Inman's wife and son were convicted earlier this year in the slaying.

Authorities said Summer Inman was abducted, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church. She had filed for divorce from Inman's son and was seeking custody of the couple's three small children.

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Well, I don't get this as earlier it was reported this was deemed a mis-trial, so which is it???

From Lisette's link above Wrap:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A mistrial was declared on Wednesday for the man accused of killing his daughter-in-law.

According to the Hocking County Prosecutor’s Office, the mistrial was declared because a jury could not be seated in the case against William Inman Sr.

Both sides in the case have until next Friday to submit their thoughts about where they could move the trial, according to prosecutor Laina Fetherolf.
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I saw something about this on the news tonight, but did not hear all of it.

Well, Ross County in Chillicothe, Ohio is about an hour from Logan, Ohio. It probably is about the same size. I think the people have probably heard all about it there also. The judge is right, Franklin County is Columbus, Ohio, Hamilton County is Cincinnati, Ohio, bigger than Columbus and Delaware is just North of Columbus. I think that all of those places have heard and read plenty about this trial in the news. I think that makes a difference. Although I cannot see how anyone could think that this crazy FIL should get off. MOO, the further away they could move this trial, the better it would be.

I still don't understand why the media said it was a mis-trial and now they've moved the upcoming trial to another county????

My thoughts on the Mistrial is because Logan, Ohio is not all that big and too many people knew about it. So they could not seat a jury as raine posted above. People probably already had their minds made up. That is why I feel that it should be taken very long way from Logan, Ohio. MOO!

I was under the impression if it was deemed a mis-trial, that was a final decision. They should have clarified that is was deemed a mis-trial in that particular county and would find another county to seat a jury.

I thought the same thing when I read the headlines for the mistrial. I could not believe it.

Posted: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:00 pm | Updated: 11:15 pm, Tue Jan 8, 2013.
By GRETCHEN GREGORY Logan Daily News Editor [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CHILLICOTHE — Almost two full years after a Logan woman disappeared from the downtown bank where she worked and her body was dumped head-first inside the septic tank of a Nelsonville church, the final trial of her accused killers is set to begin Thursday in Chillicothe.

Jury selection in the trial of William Inman, who is accused of murdering his daughter-in-law Summer Cook Inman by strangling her with a zip tie, will be held in Ross County Common Pleas Court.

The trial was moved to Chillicothe after attempts to seat an impartial jury in Hocking County in September were unsuccessful.

Inman — charged with two counts of aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse in relation to the murder of his daughter-in-law— could face the death penalty if convicted.

His wife, Sandra Inman, pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping, abduction, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse in June 2012 and was sentenced to serve 15 years to life in prison. She is currently incarcerated at Dayton Correctional Institution.

Their son, William Inman II, was found guilty of aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse in June 2012 and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently being housed at Ross Correctional Institute in Chillicothe.

Three hundred fifty jurors will visit the Ross County Fairgrounds Thursday in three separate shifts to fill out questionnaires about their personal history, thoughts about the death penalty and find out how much they’ve read or viewed about the case in the media.

Jurors who aren’t dismissed for vacation or medical excuses after completing the questionnaires will return to court for individual questioning by the judge, prosecution and defense on Jan. 15.

Four jurors will be interviewed an hour until there is a pool of approximately 60 jurors. Following additional questioning, 12 jurors and four alternates will be chosen and, once selected, Inman’s trial will begin.

Hocking County Common Pleas Court Judge John Wallace and his court staff will administer the trial in Ross County, and Wallace explained that once a jury is seated, there will be two parts to the trial.

The first part will determine whether or not Inman is guilty of a crime, and the second part will take place only if Inman is convicted of aggravated murder with the death penalty specification.

If the second part takes place, the trial will enter the mitigation phase and jurors must then decide if the death penalty is an appropriate sentence based on a number of different factors.

Other sentences besides the death penalty could include life in prison without the possibility of parole, life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years, and life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

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By: ALEX MAZER | NBC4
Published: January 23, 2013

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- Jury selection for Bill Inman’s trial is expected to be completed on Friday in Ross County, according to court officials.

A total of 44 jurors have been selected. On Friday, the court will select 12 jurors to serve in the trial.

Opening statements are scheduled to begin on Monday.

Inman is accused of strangling his daughter-in-law, Summer Inman, with a zip tie and dumping her body in a septic tank in March 2011.

Inman's wife and son have already been convicted and sentenced.

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Friday January 25, 2013 4:33 PM
UPDATED: Friday January 25, 2013 4:38 PM

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio- - A jury has been chosen in the case of a man accused of kidnapping and strangling his daughter-in-law before hiding her body in a Hocking County septic tank.

Two men and 10 women will decide the fate of 48-year-old William Inman Sr., who is accused of kidnapping and killing his daughter-in-law and hiding her body in a Hocking County septic tank.

Inman's wife and son were convicted and sentenced to prison terms in the March 2011 slaying of Summer Inman in Logan, about 45 miles southeast of Columbus.

Inman is accused of strangling the 25-year-old with a zip tie before hiding her body. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Opening statements in the high-profile murder trial set in Ross County will start Monday after Inman’s first trial ended abruptly when prosecutors couldn’t find a fair jury.

The trial was moved from Hocking County to Ross County in the hopes of finding an impartial jury.

More than 300 potential jurors lined up at the Ross County fairgrounds earlier this month to fill out questionnaires. It was the first step in the process of finding 12 people and several alternates for a jury.

Authorities allege Summer Inman was killed because she had filed for divorce and was seeking custody of the three children she had with William Inman II after six years of marriage.

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By: NBC4 | NBC4
Published: January 28, 2013

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- The prosecution and defense delivered opening statements in the Ross County Common Pleas Court Monday morning.

The defense's statement highlighted what Inman did, rather than what he didn’t do.

Inman’s attorney, Andrew Stevenson, told the jury that Inman was in Logan with his son and wife the night Summer Inman was kidnapped, and that they did take her. He went on to say that the Inmans were trying to talk to Summer about the reports alleging abuse on her three children.

Stevenson also said that Bill Inman did own the white Crown Victoria, and that he did help clean the car the day after Summer’s disappearance.

Stevenson told the jury that Bill Inman did not kill Summer Inman, but that he was trying to help his son.

“My client and his wife had to clean up the mess Willie Mad. Willie went off script. Willie is passionate. Willie is unstable. Willie killed her; and just like we as parents always do, what we do, we spend a lot of our time cleaning up their mess,” said Stevenson.

After the defense spoke, the prosecution brought four witnesses to the stand who stated Inman used a stun gun and put Summer into the back of his white Crown Victoria.

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Posted: Monday, January 28, 2013 7:30 pm | Updated: 8:24 pm, Mon Jan 28, 2013.
By GRETCHEN GREGORY Logan Daily News Editor [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

CHILLICOTHE – Rather than stake out a claim that involved striking down evidence in the capital case involving William “Bill” Inman, defense attorney Andrew Stevenson delivered an opening statement Monday morning that accepted much of the evidence against his client.

Stevenson even told the court that Inman kidnapped his daughter-in-law, Summer Cook Inman, from the parking lot of Century National Bank on March 22, 2011. Yet while Inman made a poor decision in deciding to take her from the bank, he argued, it was not his intention to murder her.

Rather, it was Inman’s son, William “Willy” Inman II, who was responsible for pulling the zip tie placed around Inman’s neck shortly after she disappeared from the bank, he argued. Summer died a short time later, and her body was discarded head first into the septic tank of a Nelsonville church which the Inman family once attended.

“My client, his wife, and his son took Summer from the bank and used the white Crown Victoria which they owned,” Stevenson told the jury. “They were in Logan that day. Summer was found in the church. Sandra [Inman] and Bill [Inman] cleaned the car and any evidence of death. Wow, evidence of death – what have I just done? I just stood there and told you my client was involved. OK? Why? Well, because that’s not the issue in the case. That’s not why you’re here. You’re not here to decide whether my client was there or not, I just told you he was so don’t spend your time on that. What you’re here to decide is whether or not my client committed the homicide, and whether or not my client wanted Summer dead, and whether or not my client had this plan for murder and that it was not a plan to try to talk to Summer – that’s what your focus should be on.”

Stevenson mounted a defense that included the Inman family simply wanting to speak with their daughter-in-law about custody of her three small children.

“What the prosecution wants is real simple - they want you to conclude that ‘they,’ the vague someone did it,” Stevenson told members of the jury, referring to the Inman family. “’They’ did. Well, ‘they’ are not on trial. My client is on trial. It’s your job and your focus throughout this trial to look for that evidence [that my client did it].”

“The best evidence in this case will show that [my client’s] son, Willy, or William Inman II, is responsible for pulling that tie,” he added. “The State of Ohio previously claimed William Inman II pulled that tie, the State of Ohio previously claimed that Willy would be angrier at Summer than anyone else. Willy was mad. You’ll hear testimony that Willy was unstable. You will hear testimony that Willy was passionate. Willy took Summers’ life.”
Throughout the trial, the elder Inman shook his head a few times while hearing the witness testimony of Summer’s mother, Debra Cook, as well as Adam Peters, who was dating Summer at the time of her disappearance and subsequent death.

According to both Cook and Peters, Summer feared for her life and was even threatened with death by her estranged husband. Summer had a routine she completed before finishing up work at the bank and headed home for the night. That routine included calling either her mother or Peters before walking outside the building.
Summer, who was a cleaning lady for the bank, would take out the garbage and place it in the Dumpster in the alley behind the bank after phoning home. She parked in the closest parking spot to the door, and always walked with her cell phone and keys in her hand.

When Summer didn’t come home that night, though, Cook and Peters immediately knew something was wrong and headed to the bank to check on her. Instead of finding Summer, though, all they found was her car parked in the parking lot, her iPod, back of her phone, a Mountain Dew bottle, box of Tic-Tacs, used container of Mace, and a ball cap that didn’t belong to her.

Shortly after arriving at the bank and seeing no sign of Summer, Peters and Cook contacted the Logan Police Department. LPD Lt. Mike Walton and LPD Officer Dan Campbell responded to the scene of the parking lot of the bank, as well as North’s Fitness. Rachel Sams, who was outside the fitness center, called 911 to report that a man was pepper-sprayed while attempting to help a woman who had been kidnapped.

The man who was pepper-sprayed that night was Richard Leake, who also testified on Monday. Leake said that he was walking in the area of the bank when he saw a girl curled in a ball on the ground, with two grown men standing above her, Tasing her.

Leake said when he got approximately one foot away from the woman and the men, a woman driver yelled to the men that someone was behind them. That’s when Leake was pepper-sprayed, and ran to a person on the street – Sams – for help.

Sams testified that Leake ran up to her while holding his eyes and yelled for help, telling her that someone had just been kidnapped.

Two women who were walking and jogging at the time of Summer’s disappearance reportedly witnessed Summer being shoved into a white Crown Victoria. Kylee Helman and Emily Hedges testified that they heard a woman scream twice while walking.

“We were almost to the bank and heard a girl scream, and heard a Taser go off, and proceeded to go across the alley, the alley beside the bank,” Helman said, noting that as she neared the woman that it appeared she was attempting to free herself from the men.

“She was screaming and there were two guys over her Tasing her,” Hedges said, adding that the men were dressed in black and had ski masks covering their faces. The woman on the ground wore her hair in a ponytail, which was a dirty blond color, she noted.

There were two people outside the car, and a woman’s voice from the front driver’s seat yelled, “Get the hell in the car,” Hedges said.

From there, she noted, the girl was tossed into the vehicle, which then frantically sped away in a distraught hurry. According to Hedges, the woman driving the vehicle was frenzied and the blinkers and turn signals were being used erratically.

The prosecution will call several more witnesses today in Ross County Common Pleas Court. To follow the court proceedings online, visit [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] to view a live news feed.

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Jan. 28, 2013 7:00 PM
Written by
Jona Ison
CentralOhio.com

CHILLICOTHE — Testimony from the first day in the Hocking County aggravated murder trial of William “Bill” Inman Sr. began with prosecutors working to paint a picture of Summer Inman’s kidnapping.

Inman faces the death penalty if convicted of helping his wife and son kidnap and kill his daughter-in-law, Summer. To ensure a fair trial for Inman, the proceedings were moved to Ross County when an impartial jury couldn’t be seated in Hocking County.

Monday’s testimony featured eyewitness reports of Summer being kidnapped outside a Logan bank where she worked the evening of March 22, 2011. Kylee Helman and Emily Hedges had been taking a jog and walk along Hunter Street in Logan when they said they heard a woman scream. Hedges said at first they kind of dismissed the scream, until hearing her scream again.

“It sounded so bad. ... It sounded like somebody was getting murdered in the parking lot,” Hedges testified.

The women, as well as Richard Leake, who also had been walking in the area, testified they heard the distinct sound of a stun gun along with the screams. They all reported seeing two masked men trying to get a woman into a white car with a woman behind the wheel.

“She was screaming and they were trying to get her into the car as fast as they could,” Helman said.

Leake walked toward the men and was about a foot away when they turned and sprayed him with some kind of mace. With burning eyes and blurred vision, Leake said he tried to run back to where he’d seen a couple nearby.

Rachel Sams testified Leake came up screaming for help.

“He seemed very frantic, very scared,” she said, adding he needed to get to the sheriff’s office because someone was being kidnapped.

Helman described the female driver of the car as “nervous” and said the car’s “lights and blinkers, everything was going crazy” as she went to drive off with the screaming woman in the back seat. One of the masked men had gotten into the front and the other was in the back, she said.

Meanwhile, about two blocks away, Summer’s mother, Debra Cook, and Summer’s boyfriend, Adam Peters, began worrying about Summer because she wasn’t home from the bank. Testimony indicated Summer had been scared of her estranged husband, Will Inman, who allegedly had threatened Summer’s life if she left him or tried to take the children, Cook said.

As such, when Summer went to Century National Bank in the evenings to clean, they knew when to expect her home, and Peters said they also had worked out a plan for her to park by a trash container so she could toss out the trash as she got into her car, minimizing her time in a dark parking lot. That night, she was expected to clock out somewhere around 11:15 p.m., but concern set in when she wasn’t home to Cook’s by 11:30 p.m.

Peters and Cook testified they walked down to the bank, where Peters found his car, which Summer had driven, still in the lot. They also said they found the back of Summer’s cell phone, the car keys and an iPod. Police soon were on the scene because of the reports of the woman screaming, Leake with mace in his eyes and Summer’s father calling about her missing.

Cook also testified about the relationship between her daughter and Will Inman, Bill Inman’s son. The couple had married young and had three children, but the relationship became strained and they split in early June 2010. Defense attorney Andrew Stevenson worked to establish that the relationship between Summer and Peters began before Will and Summer separated.

Peters testified they began dating a few weeks afterward, around the time she filed for divorce, but Stevenson confronted Peters with a Facebook relationship status showing their anniversary as the same day she left Will.

Testimony also included statements that Will had filed reports and claims he thought Peters might be physically abusing the children. No charges were filed and Cook and Peters discounted the claims as baseless and the result of a messy divorce. After Summer’s disappearance, Peters moved in with the Cooks for a few months to help out before moving in with a woman in Lancaster.

Today’s testimony likely will get into what happened after Summer was kidnapped at the bank and perhaps some of the forensic findings of evidence collected outside the bank. The Inmans — Will; his father, Bill; and mother, Sandra — were arrested two days after Summer disappeared. Summer’s body was found March 29, 2011, in a septic tank behind a Nelsonville church — the same church where Summer’s grandparents had met the Inmans, leading to Will and Summer meeting.

Sandra Inman, who had provided information that led police to Summer’s body, entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to 15 years to life for her part in the murder, while Will Inman was sentenced to life in prison after a jury found him guilty. Like his father, Will also faced a possible death sentence, but the jury chose life in prison instead.

Bill Inman’s trial is scheduled to continue through Feb. 8.

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The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday January 29, 2013 8:02 AM

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — William A. “Bill” Inman merely did what any father would do if his son had committed murder, his lawyer told jurors yesterday in Inman’s aggravated-murder trial.

“William Inman II is responsible for pulling that tie,” defense attorney Andrew Stevenson said. “ You will hear testimony that Willie was mad, Willie was unstable, Willie was passionate. Willie took Summer’s life.”

Bill Inman could receive the death penalty if convicted of the March 22, 2011, abduction and strangling of his daughter-in-law, Summer D. Inman, with a plastic zip tie. Summer Inman was involved in a custody dispute with Will Inman after filing for divorce.

Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf told jurors that it is reasonable to infer that Bill Inman murdered Summer Inman because he was the patriarch of the family who made all the rules and wanted to help his son.

Stevenson said Bill Inman and his wife, Sandra, 47, doted on their three grandchildren and helped their son kidnap Summer because they wanted to talk to her about concerns they had that the children were being physically abused by a man Summer began dating after she left Will.

“That was a horrible, horrible idea that went horribly wrong,” Stevenson said.

The parents took the car used in the abduction to car washes to clean it after the murder but did so to help their son, Stevenson said.

“My client and his wife had to clean up the mess Willie made. Willie killed her. Your child just killed someone. What do parents do? They step in and clean up.”

That makes the senior Inman guilty of tampering with evidence but not of murder, Stevenson said.

Fetherolf told jurors that, under the law, they could find the senior Inman guilty of aggravated murder whether they decided that he strangled his daughter-in-law himself or was an accomplice in the plot and the abduction that led to her murder. Summer’s mother, Debra Cook, and Summer’s boyfriend Adam Peters testified yesterday that they were at the Cook family home in Logan when Summer did not return from her job cleaning Century National Bank in Logan. They found the back of her cellphone and her iPod on the ground near the bank and summoned police.

Before they reported that Summer was missing, three witnesses saw and heard a commotion outside the bank.

Friends Kylee Helman and Emily Hedges said they were walking when they heard a woman screaming. They saw a white car with a blond-haired woman at the wheel and two men dressed in dark clothing outside the car using a stun gun on a screaming woman who was curled up on the ground. The woman was forced into the car, which drove off, the women testified.

Richard Leake testified that he was in the area when he heard screaming and saw a woman curled up on the ground while a stun gun was applied to her by two men. When he approached to help the woman, the driver warned the men, and Leake was pepper-sprayed.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today in the trial, which was moved to Ross County because the case’s notoriety made it impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury in Hocking County.

The trial of Bill Inman follows the convictions of his son and wife last year.

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By Mary Beth Lane
The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday January 29, 2013 4:01 PM

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Several jurors shook their heads vigorously ‘no’ when William A. “Bill” Inman’s defense attorney held up the lid to the underground septic tank where the strangled body of Inman’s daughter-in-law was concealed and asked if he should bring it over to the jury box so they could see it better.

Andrew Stevenson put down the manhole-sized lid.

The trial’s second day of testimony got into grim detail. Prosecutors laid out for jurors the pieces of the puzzle that they say show that Inman, 48, committed aggravated murder and other crimes in the March 22, 2011 abduction and zip-tie strangulation of Summer D. Inman.

The septic tank behind Faith Tabernacle Church, where Inman and his family used to worship, had a lid attached with Phillips screws. Yet the only screwdriver found in the Inmans’ car was a flathead screwdriver, Stevenson told jurors.

Paul Scarsella, an assistant attorney general who is prosecuting the case with Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf, said that didn’t mean anything. The tool used to open the lid could have been disposed of anywhere between the church near Nelsonville and the stops in northeast Ohio that Inman and his wife and son made on March 23, 2011, Scarsella told jurors.

On the second day of trial, several law-enforcement officials testified about their analysis of cellphone and GPS records that tracked the whereabouts of Inman and his wife and son on March 22-23, the period when Summer Inman was abducted.

The records showed the family was in Logan and Nelsonville, despite claiming at the time that they were in the Cleveland area overnight on March 22-23 stranded with a broken-down car.

Her body was found on March 29, 2011, after her mother-in-law gave the location to authorities.

Logan Police Chief Aaron Miller told jurors that he watched as authorities unscrewed and lifted the lid. He looked inside the septic tank and saw a human foot. He then had to tell Summer’s parents that her body had been found.

Her parents, Debra and Mike Cook, have been in court listening to the testimony.

Bill Inman, 48, could receive the death penalty if he is convicted of aggravated murder and other crimes in Summer Inman’s death.

The 25-year-old mother of three was strangled with a hard-plastic zip tie cinched so tightly around her neck that it made imprints in her skin.

Inman’s son, William A. “Will” Inman II, 28, has been convicted of aggravated murder and other crimes, and is serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole. Inman’s wife, Sandra K. Inman, 47, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Jurors on the second day also watched a surveillance tape taken at a car wash in Seven Hills outside Cleveland showing the Inmans vacuuming and wiping the car used in the abduction.

The senior Inman merely helped his son clean up “the mess Willie made” by cleaning the car, Stevenson said in his opening statement yesterday. It was Will Inman, upset that Summer had left in June 2010, filed for divorce and taken their children away from him, who killed Summer, Stevenson said.

Testimony is to continue on Wednesday in Ross County, where the trial was moved from Hocking County. A jury could not be seated in Hocking County because of the case’s notoriety.

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Inman ‘had to clean up mess,’ jurors told

By Mary Beth Lane
The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday January 29, 2013 10:44 AM

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — William A. “Bill” Inman merely did what any father would do if his son had committed murder, his lawyer told jurors yesterday in Inman’s aggravated-murder trial.

“William Inman II is responsible for pulling that tie,” defense attorney Andrew Stevenson said. “ You will hear testimony that Willie was mad, Willie was unstable, Willie was passionate. Willie took Summer’s life.”

Bill Inman could receive the death penalty if convicted of the March 22, 2011, abduction and strangling of his daughter-in-law, Summer D. Inman, with a plastic zip tie. Summer Inman was involved in a custody dispute with Will Inman after filing for divorce.

Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf told jurors that it is reasonable to infer that Bill Inman murdered Summer Inman because he was the patriarch of the family who made all the rules and wanted to help his son.

Stevenson said Bill Inman and his wife, Sandra, 47, doted on their three grandchildren and helped their son kidnap Summer because they wanted to talk to her about concerns they had that the children were being physically abused by a man Summer began dating after she left Will.

“That was a horrible, horrible idea that went horribly wrong,” Stevenson said.

The parents took the car used in the abduction to car washes to clean it after the murder but did so to help their son, Stevenson said.

“My client and his wife had to clean up the mess Willie made. Willie killed her. Your child just killed someone. What do parents do? They step in and clean up.”

That makes the senior Inman guilty of tampering with evidence but not of murder, Stevenson said.

Fetherolf told jurors that, under the law, they could find the senior Inman guilty of aggravated murder whether they decided that he strangled his daughter-in-law himself or was an accomplice in the plot and the abduction that led to her murder. Summer’s mother, Debra Cook, and Summer’s boyfriend Adam Peters testified yesterday that they were at the Cook family home in Logan when Summer did not return from her job cleaning Century National Bank in Logan. They found the back of her cellphone and her iPod on the ground near the bank and summoned police.

Before they reported that Summer was missing, three witnesses saw and heard a commotion outside the bank.

Friends Kylee Helman and Emily Hedges said they were walking when they heard a woman screaming. They saw a white car with a blond-haired woman at the wheel and two men dressed in dark clothing outside the car using a stun gun on a screaming woman who was curled up on the ground. The woman was forced into the car, which drove off, the women testified.

Richard Leake testified that he was in the area when he heard screaming and saw a woman curled up on the ground while a stun gun was applied to her by two men. When he approached to help the woman, the driver warned the men, and Leake was pepper-sprayed.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today in the trial, which was moved to Ross County because the case’s notoriety made it impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury in Hocking County.

The trial of Bill Inman follows the convictions of his son and wife last year.

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He's guilty as sin! I sure hope he's convicted and gets at least life w/o parole or the . Her poor parents sitting there hearing all this.

Her parents have had to listen to so much. I really think he w/be convicted.

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The prosecution and the defense rested their cases this afternoon in William A. “Bill” Inman’s murder trial without Inman taking the stand.

Jurors are scheduled to hear closing statements on Monday at 9 a.m. and then begin deliberations. Hocking County Common Pleas Court Judge John T. Wallace told jurors to bring their suitcases in case he must sequester them overnight during the deliberations.

Inman, 48, could receive the death penalty if he is convicted of aggravated murder and other crimes in the abduction, strangulation and corpse abuse of his daughter-in-law Summer D. Inman on March 22, 2011.

Inman’s son, William A. “Will” Inman II, and wife, Sandra K. Inman, are in prison after being convicted of murder and other crimes related to Summer Inman’s death.

Today, Wallace rejected two attempts made by defense lawyers Andrew Stevenson and K. Robert Toy to introduce as evidence in Bill Inman’s trial statements that his son was the killer.

Wallace ruled that he would not allow the jury to hear a portion of Hocking County Prosecutor Laina Fetherolf’s opening statement in the Will Inman trial last year in which she told jurors that Will Inman pulled the zip tie around his wife’s neck so tightly that it left imprints on her skin.

At the same time, however, Wallace said from the bench, he will not allow Fetherolf and her co-prosecutor, assistant attorney general Paul Scarsella, to tell this jury in their closing argument that only Bill Inman pulled the zip tie.

Wallace said the prosecutors may argue instead that Bill Inman helped his son kill Summer Inman as a principal offender, or alternatively, that the senior Inman used prior calculation and design in plotting the death.

These are the competing theories that prosecutors used to charge Bill Inman with two counts of aggravated murder.

Separately, Wallace ruled today that he will not allow a confession that Inman’s wife gave an investigator to be introduced in his trial.

Sandra Inman said in the statement, taken on March 29, 2011, that their son accidentally killed his estranged wife.

Wallace ruled that it was not admissible under the law and the rules of evidence.

This was the fourth day of trial testimony.

Bryan Casto, deputy coroner at the Montgomery County coroner’s office, performed the autopsy. He told jurors that the hard plastic zip tie used to strangle Summer Inman was cinched so tightly around her neck that he had to use wire cutters to remove it.

Jurors also listened to FBI agents testify about interviewing the Inmans on March 23, 2011, at their Akron house when Summer Inman was still missing. The agents testified that Bill Inman became agitated while his son was being interviewed separately.

“He yelled out to his son to not say anything anymore,” said FBI Special Agent David O’C onnor.

Jurors also heard testimony from Kristen Slaper, a forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation who analyzed some items that were left behind in the parking lot of Century National Bank, from which Summer Inman was abducted on March 22, 2011.

A blue ball cap collected from the scene contained the DNA of Bill Inman, she told jurors.

Jurors also were shown a map on which Michael Daugherty, an FBI special agent who worked the case at the time, traced the whereabouts of the Inmans on March 22-23, 2011 using their GPS.

They had told investigators who asking them about the missing Summer Inman that their car had broken down in northeast Ohio overnight. The GPS records showed, however, that Bill Inman and his wife and son were in Logan and Nelsonville on March 22, Daugherty testified

Summer Inman, 25, was abducted from downtown Logan on March 22, 2011. Her strangled body was found stuffed head first down an underground septic tank behind a church on March 29, 2011 after her mother-in-law disclosed the location to authorities.

Will Inman, 28, is serving life without possibility of parole after being convicted of aggravated murder and other crimes. Sandra Inman, 47, is serving 15 years to life after pleading guilty to murder.

Bill Inman’s trial was moved to Ross County because the case’s notoriety made it impossible to seat a jury in Hocking County.

Summer and Will Inman were locked in a nasty divorce and child-custody dispute when she was abducted and killed.

Defense lawyer Andrew Stevenson has told jurors that the senior Inman participated in the kidnapping and crime cover-up, but only to help his son.
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That whole damned family killed this poor girl!!!!!

By Atish BaidyaAngela Reighard
Published Wed, Feb 6, 2013 9:13 am Dateline Chillicothe, OH
Updated Wed, Feb 6, 2013 1:46 pm

UPDATE 1:45 a.m. Jurors deciding the fate of William Inman, Sr. have started their deliberations in the sentencing phase of his trial for the murder of his daughter-in-law.

The jury can either sentence Inman to the death penalty, life without parole, or 25 to 30 years in prison.

In a written statement to the jury Inman said he was sorry for killing Summer Inman in March 2011.

“I regret my actions. I can’t undo what I’ve done,” he wrote. “I’m sorry for the families that have lost. I’m sorry for my family and my grand family. I’m sorry.”

During closing statements Inman’s defense attorney became emotional as he urged jurors to spare his client’s life.

“If you vote to kill Bill Inman it won’t lessen this tragedy to any degree,” K. Robert Toy said. “If you vote to kill Bill Inman it won’t bring Summer back.”

Toy argued Inman’s abusive childhood is a mitigating factor that should be taken into consideration as the jury deliberates on Inman’s fate.

On Monday the jury convicted Inman of murder and other crimes after just three hours of deliberation.

Authorities said Summer Inman was killed because she had filed for divorce and was seeking custody of the three young children she had with William Inman II.

Sandra Inman and Inman II were also convicted in Summer Inman’s death.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m. In an emotional closing statement William Inman’s defense attorney urged jurors to spare his client’s life.

“If you vote to kill Bill Inman it won’t lessen this tragedy to any degree,” K. Robert Toy said. “If you vote to kill Bill Inman it won’t bring Summer back.”

In a statement to the jury William Inman apologized to Summer Inman’s family and his family.

“I regret my actions. I can’t undo what I’ve done,” he wrote. “I’m sorry for the families that have lost. I’m sorry for my family and my grand family. I’m sorry.”

Toy argued Inman’s abusive childhood are mitigating factors that should be taken into consideration as the jury deliberates on whether Inman should spend the rest of his life behind bars or should be sentenced to die.

The prosecution argued the planning involved in the murder of Summer Inman outweigh the factors surrounding Inman’s childhood upbringing.

UPDATE 10:10 a.m. A licensed psychologist for the defense that focuses primarily on post-traumatic stress disorder says growing up with an abusive father caused William Inman Sr. to develop an “inordinate need to take care of his family.”

Dr. James Reardon testified that Inman's childhood changed him.

“It influences how you perceive things,” he testified.

Reardon also testified because Sandra Inman had miscarriages, “Willy was a miracle which is why grandchildren were so precious to them.”

The defense is trying to paint a sympathetic picture of Inman during the sentencing phase of the trial that could result in the death penalty.

Reardon also testified Inman believed his granddaughter was being sexually abused.

Earlier this week the jury convicted Inman of murder and other crimes after just three hours of deliberation.

Inman was convicted of killing his daughter-in-law, Summer Inman and dumping her body in a septic tank.

A jury can either recommend up to life in prison or the death penalty for Inman.

Authorities said Summer Inman was killed in March 2011 because she had filed for divorce and was seeking custody of the three young children she had with William Inman II.

Sandra Inman and Inman II were also convicted in Summer Inman’s death.

UPDATE 9:30 a.m. William Inman’s older sister Tammy Tripp has taken the stand to testify on her brother’s behalf in an attempt to convince the jury not to sentence him to death.

Tripp testified that their father would beat both of them as children.

“He pulled a knife, beat with a gun, anything you could find,” she said. “Mainly, his choice was a leather strap.”

Tripp said Inman helped her battle with drug addiction.

She was convicted of a heroin offense.

On Monday the jury convicted Inman of murder and other crimes after just three hours of deliberation.

Inman was convicted of killing his daughter-in-law, Summer Inman and dumping her body in a septic tank.

A jury can either recommend up to life in prison or the death penalty for Inman.

Authorities said Summer Inman was killed in March 2011 because she had filed for divorce and was seeking custody of the three young children she had with William Inman II.

Sandra Inman and Inman II were also convicted in Summer Inman’s death.

Opening statements in the sentencing phase of the murder trial of William Inman are underway at this hour in Chillicothe.

A jury will decide whether or not Inman will be sentenced to death.

On Monday the jury convicted Inman of murder and other crimes after just three hours of deliberation.

Inman was convicted of killing his daughter-in-law, Summer Inman and dumping her body in a septic tank.

A jury can either recommend up to life in prison or the death penalty for Inman.

Authorities said Summer Inman was killed in March 2011 because she had filed for divorce and was seeking custody of the three young children she had with William Inman II.

Sandra Inman and Inman II were also convicted in Summer Inman’s death.

WOUB News will bring you updated information on this developing story as it becomes available.

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CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The parents of Summer D. Inman are satisfied that her father-in-law will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole for her murder.

Mike and Debbie Cook said that they had not wanted the death penalty for William A. “Bill” Inman.

“I just feel relieved,” Mr. Cook said. “I didn’t want him to get the death penalty, I wanted him to stay in prison the rest of his life.”

The jury took about two hours to recommend the sentence to Hocking County Common Pleas Court Judge John T. Wallace, who agreed.

Juror Gretchen Fawley said afterward that the death penalty was quickly put off the table.

“We were split from the beginning. A few of us said yes, a few said no. Right away, we had to throw it out,” said Fawley, 37, of Chillicothe.

All 12 jurors had to sign off on the sentencing verdict.

Inman showed no reaction to the life-without-parole sentence. It is the same sentence his son, William A. “Will” Inman II, received last year.

Inman turned to the Cooks and other relatives of Summer in the courtroom this morning and said he regrets what happened.

“I do regret it,” he said. “I cannot undo what I’ve done. I wish I could. I live with it every hour of every day.”

Summer Inman’s mother said later that she didn’t think his apology was earnest.

Inman rose from the defense table to make the statement as part of his mitigation hearing.

It took jurors only two-and-a-half hours on Monday to find Inman guilty of all six charges related to the kidnapping, zip-tie strangulation and corpse abuse of his daughter-in-law, Summer D. Inman, on March 22, 2011.

Her body was pulled a week later from an underground septic tank in Athens County.

The jury convicted him on two counts of aggravated murder, and murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

As the jury of 10 women and two men listened this morning, Inman continued his brief statement.

“I loved Summer,” he said. “I didn’t want to see her hurt. I’m sorry for the family’s tragic loss, I really am.”

A psychologist who interviewed and evaluated Inman testified this morning that he was abused as a child.

Inman grew up in abusive household in which he felt powerless to protect himself, his siblings and his mother from savage beatings by his father, said Upper Arlington psychologist James Reardon.

“Once he grew up, he wanted to protect his family, including his grandchildren.”

When he thought the grandchildren were being abused, he snapped, Reardon said.

“That’s the emotional backdrop,” Reardon said. “There is this wave of emotion building. It builds and builds, this feeling of, ‘We have to do something.’

“It’s like this tidal wave. It all crashed down on March 22, 2011,” the psychologist told jurors.

Bill Inman’s sister, Tamberlee Tripp, 50, of Logan, mouthed, “I love you” to him and cried as she testified about their childhood. She and her brother were beaten regularly by their father, Scott Inman, Tripp said.

Their mother, now Rose Mary McKinniss, left when they were young children, after Scott Inman pressed a handgun to her head, she said.

Scott Inman died last year.

Inman, 48, was the last in his family to be convicted in what prosecutors said was a scheme to kill Summer Inman to gain custody of the three children she had with Inman’s son, William A. “ Will” Inman II.

Summer and Will Inman were locked in a nasty divorce and custody battle before her death.

Will Inman, 28, could have received the death penalty. A jury instead sentenced him to life in prison without parole last year after convicting him of the same charges that his father was convicted of this week.

Sandra K. Inman, 47, who told authorities where to find her daughter-in-law’s body, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges, and was sentenced to 15 years to life.

The elder Inman’s trial was moved to Ross County because the case’s notoriety made it impossible to seat a fair and impartial jury in Hocking County.
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:cheering: :cheering: :cheering:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2013 04:58 PM

By Mary Beth Lane
The Columbus Dispatch Thursday February 28, 2013 4:44 PM

Summer Inman’s mother-in-law told an investigator that it was her idea to snatch the mother of three in downtown Logan and force her into a car so she could beg for weekend visits with her grandchildren.

“It was my idea,” Sandra K. Inman told a deputy sheriff in March 2011. “I thought I could talk to her.”

Her confession was released today after Hocking County Common Pleas Court Judge John T. Wallace agreed to unseal it.

They kidnappers forced Summer Inman into the car and drove off. With Sandra were husband William A. “Bill” Inman and son William A. “Will” Inman, who had bound his estranged wife’s wrists with plastic zip ties and sat with her in the back seat.

Summer Inman was struggling and screaming, “and telling me we’d probably never see the kids again,” Sandra Inman said.

Everything went wrong when Will Inman accidentally strangled her with a zip tie he had put around her neck, she said.

“I know, I know positively, he didn’t do it on purpose,” Sandra Inman said.

“I, I think he blacked out ... he looked at me like, ‘Oh my God,’ you know. ‘Mom, where’s the knife? Where’s the knife? Where’s the knife?’ and I couldn’t find it.”

Sandra Inman recounted the tragic trip on March 22, 2011, to Hocking County Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Speckman in an interview at the sheriff's office. That was a week later, as authorities were still searching for 25-year-old Summer Inman, and were holding her in-laws on kidnapping charges.

Wallace had sealed Sandra Inman’s March 29, 2011 confession, but unsealed it after The Dispatch and The Logan Daily News requested it.

It had been sealed because it was thought at one time that Sandra Inman might testify in her husband’s trial. She did not.

A jury sentenced Bill Inman, 49, to life in prison without parole on Feb. 6 after convicting him of aggravated murder and other crimes in the abduction and strangulation of his daughter-in-law. A jury gave the same sentence to Will Inman, 28, after convicting him of the same crimes last year. Both could have received the death penalty.

Sandra Inman, 47, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison last year after she pleaded guilty to murder and other crimes.

Once the zip tie was fastened around her daughter-in-law’s neck and it was clear that she was not breathing, Sandra Inman told the chief deputy in her statement, “We all panicked then, at that time.”

Her husband was driving, she said, and he pulled off Rt. 33 at Faith Tabernacle Church near Nelsonville. “We used to go to church there,” she said.

Speckman got on the radio immediately with other law-enforcement officers. He guided them as Sandra Inman told him about the lidded septic tank behind the church.

At first, she said, she thought to put her daughter-in-law’s body in the Hocking River. It runs behind the church. “... and then I seen that tank and I was like, you know, ‘Well, they won’t find her in there.’ And I was so ashamed of it.”

Sandra Inman told Speckman that if it hadn’t been for her and her insistence on talking to Summer Inman about more time with the grandchildren, none of it would have happened. “It’s mainly my fault.” Summer and Will Inman were in the midst of a messy divorce at the time.

When Speckman pointed out that her husband and son participated, she said, “I think they done it for me. I know they did.”

Speckman was back on the radio with authorities. They were unscrewing the lid to the septic tank. “They got a foot. They see a foot sticking out,” he told Sandra Inman and her lawyer, Bill Henderson, who was present for the half-hour confession.

“They got her? Good,” she replied.

Summer had been like the daughter she never had, Sandra Inman said. If only life were like a tape recorder, she told the chief deputy.

“Just rewind it. There’s no way, no way possible, not any of us, not me, Bill or Willy would’v e ever, ever, ever, ever stepped foot in that car.”

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FRIDAY, MAR 1, 2013 08:45 AM CST

Woman told Ohio cops septic tank death accidental

LOGAN, Ohio (AP) — A southeast Ohio woman told authorities in a taped confession that her son accidentally strangled his estranged wife with a plastic zip tie before his parents helped him dump the body in a church septic tank.

Sandra Inman, 47, told investigators in 2011 that she wanted to see her grandchildren more so she came up with the idea of forcing her daughter-in-law into the car in Logan so they could discuss the issue, according to a transcript of the interview. Once Summer Inman was forced into the back seat, her wrists were bound with zip ties.

Sandra Inman said her son, William “Will” Inman II, put a zip around his 25-year-old wife’s neck and accidentally strangled her as she struggled. Sandra Inman said they couldn’t find a knife or anything else in the car to cut off the zip.

“I know, I know positively, he didn’t do it on purpose,” Sandra Inman told investigators.

Afterward, Sandra Inman said it was her idea to dump the body in a septic tank behind a church before going elsewhere and vacuuming out the inside of the car. During the interview a week after the murder, she instructed investigators where they could find the body.

While the interview with Sandra Inman was continuing, officers at the church unbolted the septic tank lid and reported seeing Summer Inman’s leg sticking out in the tank.

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Southeast Ohio woman told Ohio police septic tank death of Summer Inman was accidental

Posted: 10:26 AM
Last Updated: 44 minutes ago
By: Associated Press

LOGAN, Ohio - A southeast Ohio woman told authorities in a taped confession that her son accidentally strangled his estranged wife with a plastic zip tie before his parents helped him dump the body in a church septic tank.

Sandra Inman, 47, told investigators in 2011 that she wanted to see her grandchildren more so she came up with the idea of forcing her daughter-in-law into the car in Logan so they could discuss the issue, according to a transcript of the interview. Once Summer Inman was forced into the back seat, her wrists were bound with zip ties.

Sandra Inman said her son, William "Will" Inman II, put a zip around his 25-year-old wife's neck and accidentally strangled her as she struggled. Sandra Inman said they couldn't find a knife or anything else in the car to cut off the zip.

"I know, I know positively, he didn't do it on purpose," Sandra Inman told investigators.

Afterward, Sandra Inman said it was her idea to dump the body in a septic tank behind a church before going elsewhere and vacuuming out the inside of the car. During the interview a week after the murder, she instructed investigators where they could find the body.

While the interview with Sandra Inman was continuing, officers at the church unbolted the septic tank lid and reported seeing Summer Inman's leg sticking out in the tank.

"It's the stupidest thing I ever thought of to do in my whole entire life," Sandra Inman told investigators.
The transcript of the March 29, 2011, confession was unsealed Thursday.

Sandra Inman pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Her husband, William Inman, 48, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury convicted him earlier this month.

William Inman II, was convicted last year and also sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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Sandra Inman said her son, William "Will" Inman II, put a zip around his 25-year-old wife's neck and accidentally strangled her as she struggled. Sandra Inman said they couldn't find a knife or anything else in the car to cut off the zip.

"I know, I know positively, he didn't do it on purpose," Sandra Inman told investigators.
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I suppose he put the zip tie around her neck by accident too! There's only one reason to put a zip tie around someone's neck and death is the result.