DAYTON — Larry Dewayne Rogers, a person of interest in connection with the homicides of Mansfield’s Kyla Hayton and Todd Burkhart, will be arraigned on a weapons under disability in Montgomery County Thursday, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.
Initially the couple was thought to be of Ashland, and does have a number of family members in Ashland County.
Greg Flannagan, public information officer at the prosecutor’s office, said a search warrant was ordered at 632 Groveland Ave. in Dayton, in connection with the homicides. A .40 caliber handgun with an extended magazine was found in the closet of the bedroom Rodgers shared with his girlfriend, court records show.
“(Rogers) has a number of prior convictions for burglaries, so he is not allowed to have a firearm,” Flannagan said of the 31-year-old Rogers.
Flannagan did not specify what evidence Dayton Police had that led them to Rodgers, just that “it was strong enough to have a search warrant.”
On Nov. 22, the Montgomery Coroner’s Office said officials there discovered Burkhart’s body in an abandoned home at 900 Stewart Street. Hayton, who was pregnant, was found the following Monday at 910 Stewart Street.
Both had suffered multiple gunshots to the head, the coroner’s report said.
Dayton police said Monday that Rodgers was taken into custody on a weapons charge on Saturday as the sole “person of interest” in the case. Bond was set at $100,000 for Rodgers during a court appearance on Monday.
He is currently being held at the Montgomery County Jail and will have a video arraignment at the courthouse Thursday, Flannagan said.
Hayton, who was five months pregnant, and Burkhart were last seen on Nov. 16 when the couple dropped off her daughter in Columbus with her grandparents. The couple reportedly told family they’d be traveling to Dayton, possibly to purchase an firearm for a friend. They were to return Nov. 17.
“I believe the victims were killed in the homes where they were found,” said Lt. Jason Hall, of the Dayton Police Department.
