CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Recently, one local Chillicothe motel has been the center of criminal activity including drug overdose deaths, assaults, and a murder investigation.
Americas Best Value Inn, 1135 East Main Street, has become what many call a “nuisance property.”
Over the past year, the Guardian has reported on several cases with ties to the local motel. Now, we’re digging deeper into issues that have plagued the property.
Earlier this month, medics, along with officers from the Chillicothe Police responded to the motel on a double-drug overdose. According to authorities, one of the individuals died.
In October, a man’s body was discovered near a dumpster next to the motel. The man, identified as Jesse Carmody, 30, died of an alleged overdose. Investigators have not said how his body ended up near the dumpster, and detectives say that case is still under investigation.
Then, there’s the murder of Gloria Speakman, 40, Chillicothe, that rocked the local community. Her male companion, Chad Kuntz, 40, had killed Speakman following a domestic dispute at the motel. Kuntz, according to Ross County Prosecutor Jeffrey Marks, threw an open knife through Speakman’s car window, striking her in the head. Speakman succumbed to her injuries a few days later. Kuntz was convicted of her murder in October and he is currently serving 25-years-to-life in prison.
In a report provided by the Chillicothe Police Department, a disturbing pattern emerges concerning the motel.
In the past 24 months, law enforcement and emergency services have responded to the motel dozens of times. Officers or detectives responded to 7 narcotic-related cases, 8 domestic violence calls, 19 suspicious persons, 16 disorderly conduct and assault investigations, 8 thefts, and 15 motor vehicle accidents.
America’s Best Value Inn has also been the site of six deaths within the last 18 months, according to the Chillicothe Fire Department.
Many cities across the state have taken action against similar motels that have been troubled with similar issues. Chillicothe Law Director Anna Villareal was asked for an interview by the Guardian to see if her office would ever consider filing an injunction to shut down the problem property. The law director would only say, “While the Law Director acts as legal counsel for certain city officials and law enforcement, it is not the role of the law director to offer legal opinions to private citizens.”
In 2015, an online petition was launched to close another local motel for similar criminal activity. Then-Chillicothe Mayor Jack Everson told the Chillicothe Gazette that his office was prepared to take action against motels that gave the city a black eye.
“We are going to step up and get on the offense to crack down on this.”
The Guardian asked current Chillicothe Mayor Luke Feeney for an interview about the Main Street motel; he did not return our emails.
However, the Guardian was able to interview Reynoldsburg City Attorney Chris Shook about the process his office used to shut down a motel on Bryce Road in Franklin County. In September, Shook filed for injunctive relief to prevent the Days Inn, 2100 Bryce Road, from operating. According to Shook, the hotel had been a hotbed of narcotics, prostitution, human trafficking, and other criminal activity.
“[The Days Inn] hotel has a long history. It caught on fire in 2018 and was necessarily out of business as they rebuilt the hotel. Even prior to 2018, there were a number of police call/runs to the hotel of a variety suggestive of drug use, drug trafficking, and prostitution. They re-opened in October 2020 and we immediately became concerned that the old problems were starting to reappear,” Shook said. “Drug trafficking, if it is occurring on the premises and can be proven, will almost always necessitate a nuisance finding. The nuisance finding, in and of itself, however, will not support a TRO or an injunction unless the owner knew it was a concern and was negligent in allowing the activity to occur.”
Red Lion Hotels, the parent company of the motel chain was asked for comment regarding these disturbing statistics, and what is being done to stop further incidents from occurring. The company would only say that they have forwarded the news’ messages to the motel’s management staff.
“I don’t think management, the city, and the police are concerned about all the illegal happenings at the motel”, said one Chillicothe resident. When asked why they believed that, the resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Guardian, “If they cared, they would have shut that place down a long time ago. Criminal activity has been going on there for nearly a decade.”
