Machete-wielding dad looking for daughter’s ex kills wrong person, Ohio cops say
A 59-year-old man is accused of killing a woman with a machete as she passed by on a motorcycle in southwestern Ohio, officials told news outlets.
Deputies responded to a 911 call in Camden at 10:32 p.m. Sunday, June 22, and arrived to find a woman badly bleeding from a cut to her leg, the Preble County Sheriff’s Office told WHIO. Deputies learned the woman, 41-year-old Leigha Huff, had been struck with a machete. She died at the scene.
Huff was riding in the passenger seat on a motorcycle when deputies say Kenneth Brabant threw a machete at her as the bike neared the driveway of a Camden home, hitting her in the right leg, WXIX reported.
During the investigation, deputies discovered a phone call was made to police from that address at 10:27 p.m. — just 5 minutes before receiving a call about Huff, the sheriff’s office told the station. According to deputies, Brabant’s daughter had made the earlier call, reporting that her ex-boyfriend was riding a motorcycle back and forth in the street and trying to get her to come outside.
Brabant was outside while his daughter was on the phone with authorities, WLWT reported.
Huff happened to pass by the home moments later, the sheriff’s office told the station, adding that neither she nor the driver of the motorcycle had anything to do with the woman’s ex.
Jail records show Brabant was taken into custody on June 23 and is still in jail as of June 25. He is facing charges including murder, tampering with evidence and felonious assault, records show.
Camden is about a 50-mile drive northwest from Cincinnati.