Ohio stepdad not guilty in boys’ camping deaths
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A man has been found not guilty after a retrial in the drowning of his 3-year-old stepson and disappearance of the boy’s 2-year-old brother during an eastern Ohio camping trip.
The Zanesville Times Recorder reports that Richard Klein Jr. reunited with his family after the verdict Thursday in Muskingum County court.
Klein and his wife were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment and sentenced to 12 years in prison. They got new trials after an appeals court determined that a defense effort to have them tried separately was wrongly denied.
Kasey Klein’s retrial is scheduled later this month.
Authorities say the toddlers wandered away from the family’s campsite near the Muskingum River in June 2011. The 3-year-old’s body was found in the water. His brother wasn’t found.