Kettering man killed at home in Trotwood body parts case; Dayton son charged

Kettering Police Chief Chip Protsman said investigators believe the elder Keiter was killed at his home in the 4500 block of Croftshire Drive, south of David Road, where Trotwood and Kettering police responded on April 26 .

“Right now there is evidence that it happened there,” Protsman said this week.

Keiter Sr had lived in Croftshire for at least a few years and the defendant “had only recently been seen there”, he added.

Keiter Sr. died April 22, according to the Montgomery County coroner’s office. While the medical examiner has not yet ruled on a cause of death, including murder, “I believe that will be the case,” Protsman said.

Protsman did not specify who would face these charges.

“There are people of interest we’re looking for right now when it comes to murder (and) this entire incident,” he said.

Protsman said it was the nature of the case, “you don’t see that very often at all.” Obviously a very heinous crime. So it’s not something you experience often.”

“Complicated” case

Protsman called it a complex case that involved police in Fairborn, Kettering and Trotwood, along with the Southern Suburban Tactical Crime and Suppression Unit, and was assisted by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The investigation is ongoing and police are still looking for other people they believe were involved in the case. Protsman asked anyone with any information to call Det. Amy Pedro at 937-296-2460.

Edgar Keiter Sr. was identified by Trotwood police by the serial number of a medical device that came from a knee replacement in one of the legs that was found April 22, he said.

The ID came after Trotwood police responded to the 7500 block of Old Dayton Road earlier that day after a man texted Montgomery County Regional Dispatch that human legs had been found in trash bags at the end of his driveway.

Fairborn police stopped Keiter Jr.’s pickup on May 1 after an alert was issued for it the day before, Protsman said. Two people were inside, he said, but neither was Keiter Jr..

The two were “confidants and friends” of the defendant, against whom no charges were filed and whose identities were not disclosed, Protsman said.

Keiter Jr. was arrested May 1 at his home on Ernst Avenue in north Dayton on charges of theft related to equipment and items stolen from his father’s apartment, Protsman said.

After the legs were identified, “our detective began investigating (and) one address they would go to would lead them directly to another,” Protsman said. “The stopped truck led us to the storage unit,” where the rest of the body was found.

This storage unit was located on Guenther Road on the Trotwood-Dayton border, approximately four miles from where the legs were found.

What’s next?

Keiter Jr. was arraigned on the four charges in a video appearance Monday in Kettering Municipal Court. He has not entered a plea or spoken in court.

Judge Frederick Dressel set a preliminary hearing date for Friday. But he said the Keiter case will likely go directly to a grand jury in Montgomery County.

Protsman said he does not expect further charges to be filed against Keiter before the grand jury convenes, which he said will be held Thursday.

Dressel said he kept the $1 million bond “based on the seriousness of the allegations in this case and several other matters still under investigation, as well as an extensive criminal history.”

Keiter Jr. has multiple convictions for aggravated drug possession in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. He was also convicted in Kettering Municipal Court in 2021 of resisting arrest and obstructing official business.

Keiter Sr. also had a criminal history, having been convicted of rape and gross sexual assault of a child under 13 in 2010. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Dressel said a public defender will be appointed for Keiter Jr. Gross abuse of a corpse is a fifth-degree felony, while tampering is a third-degree felony, Dressel said.