Man killed, stuffed in toolbox; arrest made after stolen UHaul chase
A Trotwood man is facing murder charges in connection to a death investigation News Center 7 first reported on over a year ago.
Nicholas Swisher, 29, was arrested Tuesday evening after crashing a stolen U-Haul. The next day, he was charged with murder, felonious assault, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and gross abuse of a corpse, according to documents filed in Montgomery County Municipal Court.
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The charges are in connection to the death of John Mullins, a man whose remains were found near the 6500 block of Midway Avenue in September 2022.
Days before his body was found, Swisher allegedly lured Mullins to his home on Lensdale Avenue and beat him to death, a Trotwood detective wrote in court documents. He then reportedly put Mullins’ body in a toolbox and “disposed of him in the woods.”
After Mullins’ body was found, police told News Center 7 that there were “suspicious circumstances” surrounding his death.
Trotwood Police Chief Erik Wilson told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell on Thursday that detectives were able to “obtain some physical evidence” that linked Swisher to Mullins’ death the day his body was found.
“This was a clear ‘Who done it’ and through (the detectives’) great efforts, we were able to come up with a suspect,” Wilson said.
Police were able to take Swisher into custody on Tuesday after he and two others allegedly stole a U-Haul truck. A crash report indicated he was behind the wheel as police chased after the truck. That chase ended, as News Center 7 previously reported, after the truck was involved in a crash near Hoover Avenue and Scottswood Road.
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“Luckily, the incident we were looking for him on Tuesday for was unrelated to that incident last year,” Wilson said. “And so this was the one time, you know, the gods were smiling on us and we were able to come in contact with him looking for something else. And then once we had him custody, we had the paperwork in hand.”
In fact, Wilson said detectives were downtown, getting the paperwork for a warrant on Swisher during the chase.
‘The timing was impeccable,” Wilson said.
John Morgan was stunned Tuesday night when the chase ended up in his front yard on Tuesday. The news about a murder suspect being in his front yard came as another shock for him.
“I’m glad they get people like that off the street,” Morgan said.
As Campbell reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, he was in court for Swisher’s first court appearance on the murder and other charges on Thursday morning. There, he didn’t say anything but a not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
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There, a judge seemed to believe that Swisher would face more charges later for the stolen U-Haul.
For now, he’s being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond.
As News Center 7 previously reported, Mullins was convicted of two counts of gross sexual imposition involving two different juvenile males in 2005. He was sentenced to five years on each count in 2007 after an appeal. Wilson would not comment on if Mullins and Swisher knew each other or if Swisher had any connection to the victims in Mullins’ case.
