Arrest warrant from 2013 Columbus murder turns into police shootout in Greene County
FAIRBORN, Ohio (WCMH) – A suspect from a decade-old homicide case in Columbus was arrested Wednesday night after a shootout in Greene County east of Dayton.
Breyon Bryant, wanted in the 2013 strangulation death of Daviena Clay, was arrested in Fairborn, with no injuries reported from the exchange of gunfire. Police were there executing a warrant at an apartment on West Funderburg Road, where Bryant lived with another woman.
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The woman was being interviewed for an unrelated case when she told Fairborn officers that in December, Columbus police had collected a sample of Bryant’s DNA as part of the investigation into Clay’s death and that Bryant had confessed to her he had strangled Clay.
Columbus police were contacted by Fairborn police, who, upon arrival, said they were shot at several times by Bryant. One officer returned fire before Bryant surrendered. Bryant was arrested on aggravated assault charges and taken to the Greene County Jail.
Bryant faced a Fairborn Municipal judge Friday on his current charge and was issued a $1.5 million bond. It is not yet known when he would be extradited to Columbus over the homicide charge.
Columbus police named Bryant a suspect in the murder of Clay, 22, who was strangled in a home on the 1100 block of Wildwood Avenue in the East Side neighborhood of St. Mary’s. A witness said she saw Bryant attempt to move Clay to the basement of house with the intention of pouring bleach over her body.
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The witness ran out of the house and called police, who found Clay’s body inside the home. Ten years later, police interviewed Bryant in Fairborn and collected the DNA sample. Five weeks after that, Bryant was arrested.
Bryant’s next court appearance in Fairborn is scheduled for Feb. 1.
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