"This guy picked the wrong family and he picked the wrong community to do this to," Lynn Topp's brother Todd said Saturday. "He thought he got away with it."
Police are searching nationwide for Timothy K. Rodeheffer, 43, of 2355 McFeely-Petry Road in nearby Mississinawa Twp., on whose farm a body was found Friday.
While Darke County sheriff's officials await definite word from the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab that the body is that of Lynn Topp, her family regards that as merely official confirmation of something they already assume.
"I hope he gets the death penalty," Topp said of whoever killed her. "What he did to my sister, I think he should get the same."
Sheriff's investigators believe Topp, a student at Wright State University's Lake Campus in Celina, was abducted Feb. 21 as she walked or jogged on a rural road. Darke County Sheriff Toby Spencer said he believes Rodeheffer buried her body in a field behind his home.
Investigators interviewed Rodeheffer's family at his home Saturday morning.
A steady stream of cars drove past the home all day.
The area where the body was found, about 200 yards from the road, was still taped off.
Rodeheffer's family did not respond to reporters' requests for interviews.
Darke County sheriff's deputies Friday night charged his son, Shawn Rodeheffer, 21, of 12674 Ohio 49 in Rossburg, with obstruction of justice.
Shawn Rodeheffer was released on a $550 bond.
Rodeheffer's name and description have been entered into a national police computer database to aid in the hunt.
Rodeheffer had lived in the area most of his life and most recently worked at the same company as Lynn Topp's father, Minster Machine Co.
"He should turn himself in and face the music," Todd Topp said Saturday. "She didn't deserve it. My sister was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is very hard."
Vicki Topp, Todd's wife, said family and friends want Topp's killer found.
"We're not giving up," she said. "This community has been so strong and we're not going to quit."
In North Star, the small northern Darke County village near Topp's home, the two-week mystery over Topp's disappearance caused suspicion and fear.
Children did not stray far from their homes in recent weeks.
Women who used to think little of a twilight walk around the block stayed home.
For two weeks residents said they watched any stranger, and each other, with wary eyes.
George Niekamp, owner of George's General Store in North Star, said he saw what the case was doing to the town when he was suspicious himself last week when a young man driving a car with Michigan license plates asked for directions to a nearby cemetery.
"Until this happened, you wouldn't give a question like that a second thought, but we've been walking around looking over our shoulders for two weeks, suspecting everybody," Niekamp said.
"It just shook the confidence of the whole damn community. It's as simple as that. It's been a rough two-week ordeal."
The only good thing about the case, Niekamp said, was the way the community worked together.
After Topp disappeared, hundreds of people, including Niekamp, formed search parties and combed local fields until late into the night.
"Saturday night (Feb. 21), you're out there looking and you're half praying you do find something and you're half praying you don't," Niekamp said.
The Topps said the volunteers who searched every day for two weeks helped carry them through the difficult time.
"They were our backbone," Todd Topp said.
Topp's father, Joe, on Saturday said the impact of cases like his daughter's cannot be measured.
"I was up in St. Mary's where (Amber Nicole Williams) was taken two years ago, and they're still scared because they haven't arrested him," Joe Topp said.
LYNN TOPP CASE
* Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Timothy Rodeheffer is asked to call the Darke County sheriff's department, (937) 548-2020.
* A Mass of Christian Burial for Lynn Topp will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Denis Catholic Church in Versailles.
LYNN TOPP SEARCH CHRONOLOGY
* Saturday, Feb. 21: Lynn Topp, 19, leaves her home around 8 a.m. to go jogging. She is last seen shortly after she left her home, 13199 U.S.127.
* Sunday, Feb. 22: Darke County sheriff's officials, along with Topp's friends and family, conduct their first big community search for the teen.
* Wednesday, Feb. 25: A trained search dog from Portland, Ore., comes to Darke County to search for Topp. The dog was recommended by missing children's groups.
* Saturday, Feb. 28: Darke County officials announce an increase in the reward fund for information about Topp from $10,000 to $75,000.
* Sunday, March 1: A community prayer vigil for Topp is held at North Star's St. Louis Catholic Church.
* Monday, March 2: The search for information goes high-tech with the creation of an Internet web page holding information on the case.
* Friday, March 6: A young woman's body is found on a farm in Rosehill in Darke County and authorities believe it is Topp's.
CREDIT: TY GREENLEES/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
(#2) The Topps have maintained this pink ribbon on their mailbox and
now sister-in-law Vicki Topp says they will wear pink ribbons as a
remembrance of Lynn Topp.
CREDIT: TY GREENLEES/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
(#3) Rodeheffer residence on McFeeley-Petry Road in rural Darke
County.
CREDIT: TY GREENLEES/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
(#4) George's General Store owner Orville Niekamp, 57, talks about
the effects of the Lynn Topp tragedy on the village of North Star.
Frank Huber, 57 (right), listens.
CREDIT: TY GREENLEES/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
* CONTACT Jim Bebbington at 335-3997; or at
jim_bebbington@coxohio.com
* INFORMATION about Lynn Topp's case and about the man suspected in her death is available at the Topp investigation internet web site, www.bright.net/~mav