According to police, a man killed someone in a quiet Ohio town this week by throwing a machete after an apparent misunderstanding involving a motorbike and a woman who believed she saw her ex-boyfriend.
On Monday, Kenneth Wayne Brabant, 59, was taken into custody on suspicion of assault, tampering with evidence, and murder. The Preble County Jail is where he is being held.
In court on Wednesday, Brabant said, “All I can say is I’m sorry,” according to CBS affiliate WHIO, which is located in Dayton.
As reported, the judge’s response was, “Do not, please do not get into the facts of your case,”
Leigha Huff, 41, was a passenger on a motorbike on Upper Somers Road in Camden, Ohio, on Sunday evening.
At about the same time, Fox affiliate WXIX in Newport, Kentucky, reported that the Preble County Sheriff’s Office received a non-emergency call from a woman on the 7700 block of that road who was upset that her ex-boyfriend was trying to get her outside by riding a motorbike up and down the road close to her house.
According to reports, the caller informed the dispatcher that her father, Brabant, was also outdoors.
Huff’s motorbike apparently came down the road at this point, and Brabant allegedly threw a machete at it, hitting Huff in the leg. The terrifying incident is clarified by audio testimony provided by WXIX from the unidentified man operating the motorbike.
“With that thing, the guy was pursuing us. I caught a glimpse of him from the corner of my eye. The motorcyclist told police, “and he was doing this, and she was like, ‘oh my god,’ and then I sped up because I knew he had something.” “And she goes, ‘oh my god, I’m hit, I’m hit.'”
The woman was bleeding profusely when the man allegedly drove to a friend’s house to get a phone so he could call for assistance, but by the time rescuers got there, she had already passed away.
Authorities had not yet determined whether an ex-boyfriend or another motorbike was involved as of Thursday. They claimed that Brabant and his daughter were unknown to Huff and the man she was seeing.
“The initial report of a motorbike has not been confirmed by us. I’m not sure if that happened or not,” Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson told NBC affiliate WDTN in Dayton. “Someone made a decision to go to the end of the driveway and confront whomever they thought that was, and it ended tragically for our victim.”
According to WDTN, police informed them that Brabant’s charge of tampering with evidence stemmed from the fact that he first concealed the machete before eventually telling them where it was.
About 40 miles north of Cincinnati is Camden, Ohio. There are about 2,000 people living there.
