GPS ping locates Ohio murder suspect’s body in Falkville

By Wes Tomlinson

For the Enquirer

Local authorities assisting Dayton, Ohio, police in their search for a double-homicide suspect Thursday located his body in Falkville through pings to his mobile phone GPS.

Falkville police officers and Morgan County sheriff’s deputies responded to the request to find a missing or wanted person from the Dayton Police Department on Thursday afternoon. The Dayton police had arranged for the mobile phone pings that led local authorities to the body of Waverly Dante Rashad Hawes, 32, of Dayton, in his vehicle at 240 Buster Road near the Interstate 65 exit for Falkville.

“They had a GPS ping on his phone, and that’s what (prompted them to give) us the call to be able to do an attempt to locate, and we made contact through that request,” said Falkville Police Chief Aaron Burgess.

Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn was called to the scene at 1:51 p.m. and said it looked like Hawes had been deceased for a while. He said Hawes died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

On Friday, Dayton police confirmed that the suspect in a double homicide had died in Alabama. Burgess said the suspect was Hawes.

Burgess said he has been communicating with Dayton homicide detectives since Thursday.

Dayton police responded to a wellness check late Thursday morning and found the bodies of a 31-year-old woman and her 6-year-old daughter in the basement of their home on 337 Burleigh Ave. Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns told reporters on Friday that the suspect who died in Alabama had been living with the victims.

“The suspect and the adult female victim were boyfriend and girlfriend and had lived together right about one and a half years,” Johns said.

Johns said Dayton police had first responded to a domestic dispute at the same address on Burleigh Avenue just after midnight Thursday.

“(Police) dealt with it then and it appears the homicide happened after law enforcement officers left the house,” Johns said.

The names of the victims had not been released Friday, and Johns said the investigation was still ongoing.

“We’re still doing the criminal investigation on this to see what other avenues we can actually follow to hold anybody accountable in this case or prevent it from happening again in the future,” Johns said.

The Dayton Daily News reported that Dayton police Maj. Jason Hall said it appeared “a firearm was used in this incident.”