ASHLAND — Ben Brubaker went missing in October of 2005 from Ashland County and there’s been no trace of him since. Until recently, little was known about his disappearance. This series explores new leads, possible scenarios, witness statements and police findings.
Part II looks at new conflicting statements from Brubaker’s neighbors and his girlfriend as to when he left and under what circumstances. Read Part I here.
Timeline #1:
According to Brubaker’s mother, on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005, Ben called her and asked for a ride to Wooster the next day, as he had a court appearance. The police files confirmed he had a court appointment on Friday, Oct. 14.
Brubaker’s boss at the time, Ed Karoglan, of Karoglan Concrete, said earlier in that week that Brubaker had asked off work for court on Friday. But Brubaker needed his paycheck, issued every Friday. Brubaker said he would be there early Friday morning to pick it up. But he never showed up for the check or court and no one has seen or heard from him since.
“I was waiting for Ben, and I looked down at his trailer, and I saw two people, who I thought must have been Ben and (his girlfriend), having a fire in the morning. I wasn’t going to wait for him to walk over for his paycheck, so me and the (concrete) crew left,” Karoglan said.
Karoglan said Brubaker lived with his girlfriend in a trailer next door to him in northern Ashland County in the village of Polk. Karoglan’s house was down a long driveway, but with the leaves gone in the fall, it was easy for him to see the backyard where he said Brubaker stayed with his girlfriend, who was also the mother of his child.
Timeline #2:
According to Brubaker’s girlfriend (who is not being identified by Richland Source), Karoglan’s timeline and details aren’t correct. She said Brubaker left the week before.
“(Ben) had that car towed to my house. He wasn’t living with me. I had his son, yes, but he wasn’t living with me. And he had his car towed, ‘cuz I had a garage at the time, in Polk. He had his car towed to my house to get it fixed, ‘cuz he had wrecked it … The windshield was busted, and I dunno what else, but anyway, they had somebody come out and get the windshield fixed and all that. He had even said, after he got that car fixed, he was gone, he was going, I don’t know where. (Ben had) an AA friend in New York, and honestly, that’s where I thought he was going,” the girlfriend said.
“I probably wasn’t out there at no 6:30 in the morning, no. But yeah, I did have a fire thing (pit) out there,” the girlfriend said.
Karoglan and his wife, Judy, disputed that claim, as they both said Brubaker would walk back to their house for work from the girlfriend’s trailer in Polk. Then the concrete crew would drive to the job site from Karoglan’s.
Brubaker’s friend, Matt Hatcher, also said Brubaker was staying there at the time. Hatcher lived down the road and said he would see Brubaker a lot.
But here’s where the timeline gets tricky.
The last call from Brubaker’s cellphone was reportedly on Oct. 7, not on Thursday, Oct. 13. So Brubaker called his mother for a ride from a different phone if he was still around then? And he didn’t use his own cellphone a single time in the week leading up to Oct. 14?
Did Ben Flee?
In initial law enforcement notes, both Brubaker’s mom and his sister, Beth, said Brubaker had talked about moving to New York, as his “AA friend Steve” was there. Earlier in the month, his phone records show a 14-minute call to a number in Big Flats, New York.
“We called and talked to Steve; he said Ben never came to New York,” Beth said.
It was not uncommon for Ben to disappear for months at a time, sometimes hiding from a warrant or other things, according to Hatcher. A prior cellmate reportedly said Brubaker told him he would like to leave Ashland without a trace and never come back.
After not hearing from Brubaker for months, his girlfriend said she thought he went to New York or that he was back in prison.
A source told the Ashland County Sheriff’s Department that Brubaker was living in West Virginia, and would come up to Millersburg to buy drugs. The sheriff’s office pursued the tip, but found nothing to substantiate the claim. It seemed that the tipster wanted a felony charge dropped for the “information” on Brubaker.
If something bad did happen to Brubaker, whoever was responsible got a two-month head start.
Since there was no body or any physical evidence pointing to foul play, it was treated as a missing persons case. The lead investigator at the time, former Ashland County Sheriff’s detective Ed Staley, started the investigation in January of 2007 and talked to the girlfriend, Brubaker’s family and his friends.
When asked recently, Staley, now with Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, said he couldn’t remember any details from the case.
“I’ve seen over 100 homicide cases since then. Good luck,” Staley said.
Staley never went inside the trailer of the girlfriend. Now assigned to the case, ACSO Lt. Scott Smart said the firepit was examined, but nothing of any significance was found.
One of the initial rumors Staley heard, according to his notes, was that Brubaker might have been involved with a Mexican drug cartel.There’s no evidence of any involvement with the cartel, however.
There was also a rumor that Brubaker fled to Arkansas, according to the notes, as he had been there before with some friends from Ashland that had property down there. But again, there has been nothing to substantiate that.
When Brubaker didn’t pick up his paycheck, Karoglan said he expected his employee the next day, Saturday, Oct. 15, to show up and work on his dump truck. They had previously agreed that Brubaker could have Friday off for court, if he showed up on Saturday.
When again, Brubaker was a no-show, Karoglan said he went down the lane to the girlfriend’s trailer to inquire about Ben’s whereabouts.
“She told me, ‘Ben got into a fight with my dad and took off down the road,’ towards the Polk (general) store. I told her, ‘I gotta have my dump truck keys’ and left. The next day, I went back down there to get the keys off Ben but he wasn’t there. She went into the trailer and came back with Ben’s set of keys. He kept all his keys on one ring. I looked through them, got my truck keys, and walked back,” Karoglan said.
When asked if he remembered seeing a car or a Dodge key on the ring of keys, Karoglan said, “No, but all his keys were there. He always had his keys on him.”
The evening of Friday, Oct. 14, Hatcher said he saw a tow truck backed up to the garage connected to the trailer of the girlfriend. That prompted him to call Brubaker’s phone and leave a message, inquiring about why his car was being towed. Hatcher never saw a car hooked up, however.
Parts III and IV will explore the “mystery hole” neighbor Judy said she saw dug, the early morning fire, the anonymous letter a “man of god” sent the sheriff’s office after hearing a confession about Ben being murdered, what happened to Ben’s car and accomplice scenarios.
This is a very interesting story. I enjoy reading about it.