A reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, responsible for the murder of 92-year-old Lydia Ashworth in June.
The reward was announced at a Wednesday night meeting of the Forest Hills Community Association of West Bellaire.
The association placed $5,000 in the fund; anyone wishing to donate more money to the reward fund can do so at Belmont Savings Bank, 3301 Guernsey St., Bellaire, Ohio, 43906, which is the depository for the fund. The contact person there is Rosann Lofton.
Police Chief Mike Kovalyk and Senior Patrol Officer J.J. Watson were in attendance at the meeting and stressed to association members the police department's commitment in solving this crime.
Kovalyk added, "We welcome any information anyone may want to give our department, and that the good people of Bellaire will come together as they have in the past to help in keeping our community safe."
The police department can be reached at 740-676-3322.
Ashworth's body was discovered shortly after noon on June 30 by a family member who came to her 124 Fourth Ave. home after not being able to contact the victim.
Authorities have said the perpetrator, or perpetrators, entered the rear of the home with robbery as the motive.
Ashworth apparently was killed during the robbery.
No further details of the murder have been released, but two units from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation were at the crime scene for a lengthy amount of time after the body was found.
Kovalyk said Ashworth's body was removed and transported to the medical examiner's office in Newark, Licking County, Ohio.
