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TWO PATHS TO JUSTICE IN OHIO -
KILLERS COMMIT SIMILAR CRIMES, BUT ONE IS EXECUTED, THE OTHER IS NOT

Akron Beacon Journal (OH)
May 9, 2005
Author: John Seewer, Associated Press

John Umbel lured the blue-eyed, blond boy into his apartment with a promise of chocolate Easter eggs.

Once inside, he began raping the 3-year-old until his cries grew too loud. That's when Umbel began hitting, kicking and choking him. He then stuffed the lifeless body into a garbage bag and left it in an alley.

A few miles away and three years before, Richard Fox used the promise of a job interview to entice a pretty college student into his car.

Fox started coming on to her and she tried to escape. He grabbed her, stabbed her in the back six times and drove to a secluded road and strangled her. He dumped her body in a ditch.

The two murders and the killers who carried them out are hauntingly similar, but what followed in the courts was much different and illustrates disparities that exist in the resolution of death penalty cases in Ohio.

Fox was executed Feb. 12, 2003. Umbel is serving life in prison -- a sentence that still haunts the boy's mother.

"Why wasn't my child important enough?" asked Brooke Leimgruber, who clenches her teeth as she utters Umbel's name. "Knowing he's alive causes me a lot of pain.

"If he'd killed a cop, he'd (have) been executed. If he'd killed a rich family's child, he'd (have) been executed."

Similarities in cases

The former prosecutor who sought the death penalty for both Fox and Umbel could not believe Umbel did not receive a death sentence.

"Everything about the case kind of screamed out for that kind of justice," said Alan Mayberry, now a Wood County judge. "That one stands out."

Fox and Umbel shared a number of similarities.

Both were white and in their mid-30s when they killed. Fox's father died three weeks before he was born. Umbel was abandoned by his mother.

Both of their victims were white.

But there were differences, too.

Fox was a Boy Scout and played football and baseball in high school. Umbel was shuttled through foster homes until he was sent to a state mental hospital at age 11.

During their trials, prosecutors portrayed both men as predators who hunted their victims and attacked at first opportunity.

Fox found Leslie Keckler's phone number through an application she filled out at the restaurant where he worked. He called the 18-year-old and arranged the phony interview for a job selling restaurant supplies. He had done this before, investigators said.

He drove her to a country road Sept. 26, 1989, and tried to tear her clothes off. She resisted and he killed her.

Umbel peered out the window of his ground-floor apartment March 21, 1992, and watched Alex Leimgruber, wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt, playing with a friend on his wooden rocking horse and tricycle.

A few minutes later, Alex's older friend went inside and Umbel made his move. He briefly lost sight of the boy and went looking for him. Umbel promised Alex some candy if he came inside the one-room apartment.

"This was a child that was literally sought out, abused and murdered," said John Helm, an investigator with the prosecutor's office who interviewed Umbel when he confessed.

Guilty of murder

Umbel and Fox were each found guilty of aggravated murder and kidnapping.

Each went before a three-judge panel, made up of entirely different judges. And in each case, lawyers for Fox and Umbel said that their lives should be spared.

A forensic psychologist testified that Fox had a personality disorder that created a sense of self-worthlessness and led him to live a fantasy life that blew up when Keckler pulled away from him.

But the judges sentenced Fox to die because of "the manner in which he planned and executed the events."

Umbel's lawyers presented testimony from a psychiatrist who said he was borderline mentally retarded and suffered from chronic schizophrenia. They said he didn't know right from wrong.

All three judges would have had to agree for the death sentence to be imposed. They were split.

At least one judge thought that Umbel's past should stop him from getting a death sentence. Another judge, however, thought that planning the crime and trying to cover his tracks showed that Umbel knew right from wrong.

Those involved with the case said it was clear that Umbel's traumatic childhood played a role in the decision.

Helm wouldn't second-guess the judges but added that "the horrific nature of the crime made Umbel a prime candidate for the death penalty.

"It was clear there were issues, but none which rose to insanity," he said.

No forgiveness

Brooke Leimgruber, who now lives in Fostoria, said she thinks about her son every day. She sees his face in her twin 7-year-old boys. She thinks about how he would be dating now and playing football.

"I know what could've been," she said.

That's why she can't forgive her son's killer.

"I have people tell me that I should forgive him," she said. "They say I won't get into heaven if I don't. I really don't think God would expect me to forgive him."

Umbel is serving his sentence at the Oakwood Correctional Facility in Lima, where he undergoes psychiatric treatment and lives in a single cell. He has been there since September 2000. The state does not allow interviews with prisoners at the mental health institution.

Fox was the sixth person executed in Ohio after the state reinstated the death penalty in 1981. His daughter turned down an interview request.

He didn't deny killing Keckler before he was executed. But his attorneys said he was not the "worst of the worst" for whom the death penalty was intended.

Greg Meyers, of the Ohio Public Defender's Office, in defending Fox said, "It eats at him, as it damn well should, but he doesn't deserve to die for it."
Caption:
PHOTO: TERRY GILLIAM / Associated Press file photos - 2
photos
Caption:
(1) Chad Keckler wears a childhood photo of his murdered sister Leslie Keckler and himself during a 2003 clemency hearing for convicted killer Richard Fox. (2) Photos of murder victim Leslie Keckler are placed in seats next to her family during a 2003 clemency hearing for death row inmate Richard Fox. He was executed Feb. 12, 2003 for her slaying.

[deb]

This creep John Umbel should be put to death. If he has been in and out of trouble for 18 yrs. the crime against little Alex should have sent him to Die. A little 3 yr. old can NOT fight back, why is Ohio so slack in sentenceing these offenders?

[one_awesomemom_68]

Ohio is slack in most their laws, except drug dealers, they give them the maximum sentance allowed, at least in wood county they do. But not for my son's killer.
Umbel, fron here on out refered to as scum , had a 3 judge panel, his lawyer knew that a jury would decide more with their hearts than by absolute law, so there "escape route" was the 3 judge panel. Now, you would think , great they will get his butt good, they KNOW the devastation this causes. they will give him absolute punishhment, less chance of a mistrial, all that rot. not in this case. It was what I call an "oxymoron. One of the 3 judges, Judge Mcquaid I believe, DOES NOT believe in the death penalty. OXYMORON. You would think somewhere in the laws, it would read,to preside in this type of offense all must be willing to send someone to death, apparently not. Personal nor religious beliefs should ever be allowed to enter into it. Everyone is in agreement, this man should die for what he did, but one man, who doesn't have to live with the aftermath, decided he didn't, on personal, moral or religious beliefs. How is this fair or just? Exactly how does the law read, is there someone out there willing to fight to change it, someone out there willing to give me the guidance to fight to get this changed?
Everyone says, " Don't sweat it he is gone forever to a life a prison," you don't know what it is like to live with the memories I have, and know the one that did it, is in prison living the life HE likes. He said he did this to get back into prison, he couldn't live in society. This man LIKES prison, he LOvES it, so they rewarded him for killing my baby boy. Alex would of been 18 january 12, 2007. This man is in prison doing sexual favors, he enjoys, to get his coffee and whatever else he needs, this is actually some pretty sick stuff if you break it down to be what it is, a baby killer got his way, and a baby got a cold grave, and a family got a life of questions, anger. and nightmares. I have had 3 kids since Alex, I have yet to explain all of this, they just know he died by the hands of another. A stranger.How to tell them , I have no clue they all have questions, I try to be as vague as possible when I answer, the details would mess them up, leaving yet more trauma in the family. To address the " he is gone forever, to a life of prison" You never know who is gonna be elected into office and what their beliefs are, example, judge mcquaid himself, you never know what attorney is gonna wanna make a name for himself and decide to look and see where he can get this man a new trial or even released, what a better way to be a " dream team " type of lawyer, than to cause a ruccus and get your name in the paper, probably nationally, and actually suceed in one way or another? The publicity and attention you would draw to yourself, a way to make a name for yourself. Follow me? Call me crazy if ya wanna, but stranger things have happened

[deb]

The story of what happened to little Alex is just so horrible, and sadly we hear of the same crime over and over. I hope by the Grace of God this nation can find a way to fix our justice system so our children can get the justice they deserve. My heart breaks for the families left to piece together their lives. If a person can kill a child I beleive they should receive a death sentence, to help save the next victim and for Justice of the child they kill. If the punishment were Death just maybe these offenders would stop killing. I will not forget what happened to Little Alex or his family, I pray for our leaders to wake up and realize that we need tougher sentenceing in cases like this one. I always urge people to get involved and speak up.