Twenty years after Jeffrey Risner was found dead behind his Fostoria home, police say the case has finally produced an arrest. On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Fostoria police officers and special agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) arrested Bradly Ray, 50, of Fostoria, on an indictment warrant in connection with the 2006 murder, the Fostoria Police Department announced.
Source: WKXA / Fostoria Police Department release
Earlier the same day, a Seneca County grand jury returned a secret indictment charging Ray with murder under Ohio Revised Code 2903.02. Seneca County Court of Common Pleas Judge Damon Alt signed the indictment, and after the warrant was issued, patrol officers, detectives and special agents took Ray into custody without incident. He was transported to the Seneca County Jail, where he is being held without bail pending his initial court appearance. An indictment is a formal charge, not a finding of guilt, and Ray is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The case that began in March 2006
The investigation began after Risner's body was discovered on March 2, 2006, in a utility building behind his residence in the 100 block of Palmer Street in Fostoria, Seneca County, Ohio. Risner was 50 years old when he died, according to the Ohio Attorney General's cold case homicide database, which has listed his death for years as an unsolved homicide investigated by Fostoria police and BCI.
Source: Fostoria Free Press / Ohio Attorney General cold case database
The case remained unsolved for years and was eventually classified as a cold case after all significant and viable leads had been exhausted. For the families and the small Seneca County community, the file stayed open but silent — one of the old cases that local officers continued to carry while newer crimes took the daily headlines.
A year of fresh work by the Cold Case Unit
Over the past year, the Fostoria Police Department worked with agents from BCI's Cold Case Unit to review the case file and reopen the investigation — work that, police say, led directly to Thursday's indictment and arrest.
"Reaching this point after 20 years is the result of the dedication and careful planning of Fostoria Detective Sergeant Brooks Hall and BCI Special Agents Doug Burke, Lori Braunschweiger, and Darien Spann. Our strong relationship with BCI and its agents is a tremendous asset to an agency of our size. This interagency collaboration continues to produce remarkable results," said Chief Gabe Wedge of the Fostoria Police Department.
In a 2021 report by 13 ABC (WTVG), Fostoria police said investigators had developed a DNA profile of an unknown male from the scene that produced no match when it was run through the national CODIS database in 2013, and that they hoped forensic genealogy would provide new leads. Thursday's release does not say what evidence led the grand jury to indict Ray.
What investigators are holding back
Police say the investigation is still ongoing, and that to protect its integrity and to safeguard due process, no additional information will be released at this time. That means the public does not yet know what the reopened review found, whether new forensic work played a role, or what connection prosecutors allege between Ray and Risner.
What happens next
Ray's next step is his initial appearance in the Seneca County Court of Common Pleas, where the charge will be formally put to him and the question of bail revisited. Anyone with information about the case can contact the Fostoria Police Department at (419) 435-8573 or the BCI tip line at 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446). For Risner's family, the arrest is the first concrete movement in two decades — but it is the start of a court process, not its end.