One was wearing a checkered jacket with a gray hood. The other was described as also wearing a gray hood. Both were seen fleeing on foot east on Clifton Avenue. A federal judge Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the village of Blanchester, accused of bungling the investigation into the 1996 disappearance of a woman now presumed dead. U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel ruled the case should be decided by the jury, which has been hearing evidence since the trial began Jan. 22.
Jurors are to hear closing arguments today.
But the Culberson family's lawyer, Alphonse Gerhardstein, said there was testimony that Blanchester police knew of Vincent Doan's history of violence against his girlfriend, Ms. Culberson. Mr. Gerhardstein argued that court testimony indicated that former Blanchester Police Chief Richard Payton could have suspected that Ms. Culberson's body had been dumped in a pond, but that Mr. Payton failed to order the location secured for investigation. Police later searched the pond and found no evidence of Ms. Culberson's remains. Mr. Doan, also of Blanchester, was convicted in 1997 of kidnapping and killing Ms. Culberson. Ms. Mason was exiting Ronald Reagan Highway at Hamilton Avenue when her car crossed five lanes of traffic on Hamilton Avenue, slid off the highway on-ramp, crashed through a fence and slid into the lake.