Jessica Groves: guilty on all 11 counts Daniel Groves: not guilty on aggravated murder, guilty for remaining ten counts.
On June 12, 2019, the body of four-month-old Dylan Groves was found in a 30-foot-deep well in Otway, Ohio. His parents, Daniel and Jessica Groves were arrested two days prior on June 10, 2019, after failing to make in-person contact with Scioto County Children's Services for two months, resulting in a missing person's report being filed for Dylan.[1][2][3]
Dylan was found in a container consisting of two plastic milk crates chained together open end to open end, and secured with a chain, padlocks, and zip ties. The milk crates contained multiple large stones, a metal anchor, and Dylan's decomposed body, which was wrapped in two blankets and multiple layers of plastic, and secured with duct tape. Dylan had multiple fractures to his arm, legs, skull, and ribs which occurred at different periods of time, evident from their stages of healing. He also had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system. His cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence of undetermined etiology.”[4][5][6]
Daniel and Jessica Groves were charged with his murder, as well as kidnapping, interference with custody, abuse of a corpse, among other charges. Both of them were convicted and sentenced on January 10, 2020, which would have been Dylan's first birthday.[2][7]
In August 2021, Ohio State Senator Terry Johnson introduced Senate Bill 216, also known as Dylan's Law, which if passed, would have required the parents of children addicted to drugs to go through extensive training and milestones before they can be reunited with their children. The bill died while in committee.[8]
Background
Jessica and Daniel Groves, of Otway, Ohio, before January 10, 2019, had one child, Daniel Groves Junior. Dylan James Groves was born on January 10, 2019. The Groves arrived at the Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio, early that morning. Jessica was dilated 9½ out of 10 centimeters. Hospital staff noticed Jessica was under the influence but she refused to answer their questions. Staff in the maternity ward administered no pain medications to Jessica because she was under the influence as well as there were no records of prenatal care for Dylan. He was delivered within 30 minutes, and was promptly placed on oxygen, as he was born prematurely. Neither Daniel nor Jessica accompanied him there.[9]
Scioto County Children's Services intended to award custody of Dylan to his father, Daniel, as they believed Daniel was employed with Rural King, a farm supply store, and would be able to provide clean drug tests. They intended to release Dylan to Daniel under the pretenses Jessica would not live in the same home and had to attend drug treatment. The hospital would not agree to release Dylan to the Groves under those pretenses, and instead Dylan was placed with a foster mother, Andrea Tackett on January 16. Dylan was still exhibiting symptoms of drug withdrawal, such as twitching and tremors, and wanted to be held at all times.
Dylan remained with Tackett for ten days, before he was placed back into the custody of Daniel under the previously discussed pretenses. Jessica was assessed by a local drug treatment facility, where she received treatment for three weeks. Dylan regularly saw a pediatrician for less than one month. The Groves eventually began avoiding contact with Children's Services, who tried reaching out to them between February 4 and February 25, including visiting their eldest son at his school. Children's Services made successful contact with them again on the 25th.
After February 25, the Groves avoided contact with Children's Services. Caseworker Patricia Craft made contact with the family at their home on March 28, which was the last documented sight of Dylan alive. After that visit, the Groves would not make in-person contact with Children's Services again. Children's Services attempted to make in-person contact several times throughout the following months to no avail. Children's Services eventually placed their oldest son, Daniel Junior, into their custody, placing him with an aunt and uncle.
Children services filed a missing person's report for Dylan on April 30, and continued to make unsuccessful attempts at contacting the family. Deputies from the Scioto County Sheriff's Office also attempted to make contact. On one occasion, on May 20, Captain John Murphy observed the Groves on a four-wheeler near their home, and attempted to stop them, but they took off into the woods. A search warrant was secured for their home on June 10. Jessica Groves was promptly arrested and brought down to the Scioto County Sheriff's Office. Daniel was arrested after an hours-long standoff involving a robot. He was also transported to the sheriff's department.[6]
Recovery of Dylan's body
Jessica and Daniel were interviewed by Scioto County Detective Jodi Conkel on June 11. They both initially told Detective Conkel that Children's Services had already taken Dylan along with their eldest son Daniel Junior. Daniel was reported as being dopesick during his interview, and was rolling around on the floor, but admitted to Detective Conkel that Dylan was deceased, recounting how he found Dylan in his crib dead. He took Detective Conkel to where he initially said Dylan's body was, and nothing was found. The following day, Detective Conkel placed Daniel and Jessica in an interrogation room together, where the two began whispering amongst each other. Daniel says to Jessica: “If they find his body and if they find out where he had a broken arm and shit, we're fucked. It don't matter.”[5]
After removing Jessica and confronting Daniel, Detective Conkel convinced Daniel to take them to the correct spot Dylan was placed. Daniel leads Detective Conkel and sheriff's deputies to a well in the middle of a field near their home. Members of the Otway Volunteer Fire Department assisted in recovering Dylan's body, which was pulled from the well after four hours. Dylan's body was contained within two plastic milk crates, which were held together by their open ends, and secured with a chain woven in through their handles, along with three padlocks, 12 zip ties, and eight wire ties. Inside the two milk crates were 18 large rocks, and what was described by the medical examiner who performed the autopsy as an “iron anchor-type device.” Dylan's body was wrapped in two blankets, numerous layers of plastic, and duct tape. He was wearing a onesie, socks, and a diaper when he recovered.[4]
Dylan suffered two skull fractures that didn't occur at the same time – as they were in different stages of healing, two fractures of his left radius and ulna, a fracture of his left tibia, and healing fractures to his ribs, which also occurred at different points in time. He had bruises on his chest and left leg, as well as decomposition changes on his abdomen. His organs were all decomposed. When examined, his brain was a pink color, as opposed to a tan color, which indicated a presence of blood, possibly bleeding of the brain.
Dylan's cause of death was listed as “homicidal violence of undetermined etiology” by medical examiner Dr. Susan Brown, who performed the autopsy. She stated during the Groves’ trial that while all of the injuries he sustained indicated he died of homicide, and despite him suffering obvious and significant blunt-force trauma, the specific cause of death could not be determined, as his body was too gravely decomposed to do so, but she believed the fractures showed three different instances of trauma based on their signs of healing.
A vigil was held for Dylan on June 13. In October, Lorra Fuller, the executive director of Scioto County Children's Services at the time, was placed on administrative leave.[10]
At their trial, which began on January 7, 2020, Jessica and Daniel's defense attorneys conceded that Jessica was the principal perpetrator in their son's death, and that Daniel had nothing to do with the death of Dylan apart from helping Jessica hide his body.[11]
Among the witnesses at their trial were maternity nurses, pediatricians, Andrea Bowling – Dylan's foster mother, and law enforcement officials, including Detective Conkel.[12] Caseworker Patricia Craft, who was assigned to the Groves’ case, testified about numerous occasions she attempted to make contact with the Groves. She testified that while Dylan was missing after the Groves’ last visit, she suggested putting out an amber alert from him, but was denied by supervisors, who said that “if an amber alert went out, it would give a bad representation for the agency because they lost a child.”[13][14]
Daniel and Jessica's eldest son, Daniel Groves Junior, also testified. He stated that there were moments where his father would have him provide urine, which the prosecution argued was the reason he passed his drug tests. He also testified that he saw his brother Dylan with bruising and swelling to his head, and didn't see him in the following weeks after.[2]
On the fourth and final day of their trial, both Jessica and Daniel took the stand. Jessica took the stand first, and was questioned first by her attorney. She admitted to causing the death of Dylan, stating Daniel had nothing to do with the death of Dylan. She was cross-examined by prosecutors, and when asked how she killed her son, gave no direct answer, instead stating it was an accident, and she dropped him.[15][16]
Daniel took the stand next, and during his direct examination, he testified that he didn't know Jessica was using drugs until just before Dylan's birth. He testified that on March 28, shortly after the caseworker left their home, he found Dylan dead in his crib. He stated he fell back into drug use after their eldest son was taken by Children's Services. During cross-examination, prosecutors referenced statements he gave to investigators about seeing his wife strike Dylan in the head four times and grab him aggressively by the ribs. Daniel claimed during his cross-examination he thought that was a dream.
During closing arguments, the prosecution argued that Daniel should be found guilty of the same crimes as Jessica for not seeking help after seeing her strike and grab Dylan.
After two hours of deliberation, the jury found Jessica guilty on all counts, and Daniel guilty on every count except for aggravated murder. Judge Mark Kuhn sentenced Jessica to life without parole on the aggravated murder charge plus an additional 32 years for the other charges. Daniel was sentenced to a total of 47 years. Both of them are currently being held at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.[2][17]
Aftermath
Dylan's death would not be the only death of a child involving Scioto County Children's Services. In July 2020, Richard and Sonya Greene were charged with the murder of their 5-year-old granddaughter, Annabelle Greene. Annabelle and her two brothers, ages 7 and 3, were placed in Richard and Sonya's custody by Children's Services. Both grandparents pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In September 2021, two Scioto County Children's Services caseworkers, Lisa Thomas – who was involved in both the cases of Dylan Groves and Annabelle Greene, and Renee Ginn – who was involved in the case of Annabelle Greene, were indicted on charges of child endangerment.
In August 2021, Ohio State Senator Terry Johnson introduced Ohio Senate Bill 216, also known as Dylan's Law, a bill aimed to protect children born exposed to illegal drugs. The bill required parents of children born in such conditions to have to attend courses on treating drug-addicted children, as well as rehabilitation programs before reunification. After reunification, parents would be required to have regular contact with Children's Services caseworkers, and regularly be given drug and alcohol tests.[8] The bill was sponsored by RepublicanState SenatorsAndrew Brenner and Jerry Cirino. The bill died in the senate committee.
Related Research Articles
Lucasville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Scioto County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portsmouth micropolitan area.
Dublin is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. A suburb of Columbus, it falls within the jurisdictions of Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties. The population was 49,328 at the 2020 census. Dublin has the highest concentration of Asians of any Ohio city. The Dublin Irish Festival advertises itself as the largest three-day Irish festival in the world.
Laci Denise Peterson was an American woman murdered by her husband, Scott Lee Peterson, while eight months pregnant with their first child.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
The Cleveland Torso Murderer, also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, was an unidentified serial killer who was active in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, in the 1930s. The killings were characterized by the dismemberment of thirteen known victims and the disposal of their remains in the impoverished neighborhood of Kingsbury Run. Most victims came from an area east of Kingsbury Run called "The Roaring Third" or "Hobo Jungle", known for its bars, gambling dens, brothels, and vagrants. Despite an investigation of the murders, which at one time was led by famed lawman Eliot Ness, the murderer was never apprehended. In 2024, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office teamed up with the DNA Doe Project to exhume some of the victims and use investigative genetic genealogy to identify them.
Murder One is an American legal drama television series that aired on ABC from September 19, 1995, until May 29, 1997. The series was created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee, and Channing Gibson.
Shepherd Hall, also known as Monument Place and formerly as Stone Mansion, is a historic house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the city of Wheeling in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located in the Elm Grove area of Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia.
The Somerton Man was an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The case is also known after the Persian phrase tamám shud, meaning "It is over" or "It is finished", which was printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers. The scrap had been torn from the final page of a copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám, authored by 12th-century poet Omar Khayyám.
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Amiee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian Kevin Huntley, who murdered them – likely via asphyxiation – and disposed of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. The bodies were discovered on 17 August 2002.
Terrell Peterson was a five-year-old boy from Atlanta, Georgia, who was tortured and beaten to death while his case was under active state supervision. He was one of more than 800 children who died between 1995 and 1998 after their cases were brought to the attention of the Georgia Department of Human Services' (DHS) Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS). Some of the deaths were due to accident and illness, while others, like Terrell's, were murders. When Terrell died, he weighed only 29 pounds and was covered with cuts, bruises and cigarette burns.
People v. Murray is the name of the American criminal trial of Michael Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the pop singer's death on June 25, 2009, from a dose of the general anesthetic propofol. The trial, which started on September 27, 2011, was held in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Los Angeles, California, before Judge Michael Pastor as a televised proceeding, reaching a guilty verdict on November 7, 2011.
Robert Spangler was a serial killer who confessed to murdering his first and third wives and his two children. He was also suspected of murdering his second wife.
Daniel Ken Holtzclaw is a convicted rapist. He was convicted in December 2015 of multiple counts of rape, sexual battery, and other sex offenses while on duty as an Oklahoma City Police Officer.
The Pike County Shootings, also known as the Pike County Massacre, occurred on the night of April 21–22, 2016, when eight people – all belonging to the Rhoden family – were shot and killed in four homes in Pike County, Ohio, near the village of Peebles, 50 miles (80 km) from Columbus and 60 miles (97 km) from Cincinnati. Their bodies were found later on April 22. Seven of the victims – six adults and a 16-year-old boy – were discovered to have been shot execution-style in three adjacent houses, while the eighth victim, an adult male, was found shot to death in his camper in nearby Piketon. Three young children, including two infants, were physically unharmed. At least two shooters were initially believed to be responsible.
Shawn Michael Grate is an American serial killer and rapist who was sentenced to death for the murders of five young women in and around northern Ohio from 2006 to 2016. Grate was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder on May 7, 2018, in Ashland County, pleaded guilty to two additional murders on March 1, 2019, in Richland County, and pleaded guilty to an additional murder on September 11, 2019, in Marion County.
Samuel Little was an American serial killer who was convicted of eight murders and confessed to committing 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 murders, the largest number of confirmed victims for any serial killer in American history. Little provided sketches for twenty-six of his victims although not all have been linked to known murders.
The murder of Reagan Tokes occurred on the night of February 8, 2017, in the Scioto Grove Metro Park in Grove City, Ohio. Tokes, a twenty-one-year-old student at Ohio State University, was abducted by Brian Golsby while leaving her job in Columbus’s downtown. Golsby robbed and raped Tokes, and forced her to drive to the Scioto Grove Metro Park. There, he forced her to strip naked and marched her into a field where he shot her twice in the head just shortly before midnight. Her body was found the following morning.
Breonna Taylor, aged 26, was an African-American medical worker who was killed on March 13, 2020, after police officers from Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) forced entry into her home. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a warning shot, mistaking the police for intruders, and wounded officer Jonathan Mattingly. Mattingly and two other LMPD officers—Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove—opened fire. It was determined that Cosgrove fired the fatal shot and that none of Hankison's shots hit anyone. Taylor's family was awarded $12 million in compensation and was given a promise the LMPD would reform its practices.
Davontae Marcel Williams was a nine-year-old boy who died of malnutrition at his apartment in Arlington, Texas. He weighed 35 pounds at the time of his death. Davontae's mother, Marcella L. Williams, and his mother's partner, Lisa Ann Coleman, were arrested, accused of depriving Davontae of food, and charged with capital murder. Marcella Williams entered a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment, while Coleman refused a plea deal, was found guilty, and received a death sentence.
John Ruthell Henry was an American serial killer who was convicted for the 1985 murder of his second wife and stepson in Florida, a few years after being paroled for the 1975 murder of his first wife. After he was sentenced to death in three separate trials, Henry was executed for the latter murders at the Florida State Prison in 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
