NEWS
In a lengthy interview Sunday evening, Rodeheffer's nephew and neighbor James Allen recalled a day when the two faced off on his farm in the Darke County hamlet of Rosehill. The fight came about because of an argument over Allen's dog.
As of late Sunday evening, Rodeheffer remained at large, the subject of a nationwide manhunt.
Allen characterized Rodeheffer, 43, as even-tempered for the most part - until he consumed alcohol. "He can be easy-going," Allen said, "unless he gets to drinking. Then he gets crazy." At his worst, Allen said, "He's just really twisted.''
Before the shots were fired, Allen said, "He came over here and was going to shoot my dog. I told him to get off my property. He squatted down and started shooting at me." Allen said he ran into his house, got his rifle, and returned fire. Allen said Rodeheffer retreated. "Then he went home and there (the situation) laid."
The two haven't spoken much since and have kept a distance from one another, but Allen said he has seen more lately than he wanted.
Investigators unearthed Topp's body on Rodeheffer's 70-acre farm at 2355 McFeely-Petry Road in Mississinawa Twp. Allen said he watched Rodeheffer the afternoon of Feb. 21, the day Topp, 19, was reported missing, as his red-haired, 6-foot, 230-pound uncle drove a small backhoe from the hog house to a gravel pit at the edge of the farm's dormant cornfield. Rodeheffer worked at digging the hole until after dark, Allen said.
At first Allen thought Rodeheffer was burying a pile of old farm apparatus, but last Tuesday, when officers and a dog came to the farm, Allen thought about what he'd seen.
"I told Todd (Topp's brother) to get hold of the sheriff; I thought I had some information they could use."
Allen met with investigators and talked about the excavation and that he believed they were looking at the wrong automobile parked on the farm. "I told them that's not the car you're looking for. "
Allen, 38, said he believed the young woman was abducted in a 1989 Buick Skylark - the car Rodeheffer drove regularly.
Police recovered that car last week at an Indiana junk yard. It had been recently gutted in a fire. A 1982 Ford Fairmont used by the family was also recovered.
Police believe Topp had been walking or jogging when abducted. Rodeheffer's farm is 16 miles west of her home.
Rosehill has a population of 40 people, Allen said, "where somehow we're all related. Let's just say the apple don't fall far from the tree."
He characterized the area on Ohio 49 three miles east of the Indiana border as a farming community, "with two cemeteries and a church that desperately needs painting."
Allen's mother is the sister of Rodeheffer's wife. "She's pretty screwed up over this," he said. The Rodeheffers have two grown children.
"I feel sorry for his wife, daughter and son. And I feel sorry for the Topp family," Allen said.
Relative or not, Allen said, "I'm not making any excuses for him."
Rodeheffer last worked as a machinist at Minster Machine from 3 to 11 p.m. Thursday, the day before Topp's body was found.
"I'd say he was a pretty good provider," Allen said,adding, however, that there was something peculiar about his keen interest in how the government worked.
"He almost seemed like one of those survivalists," he said. "When I'd be visiting, I'd see Gun and Ammo and True Detective magazines" around the house.
The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab hasn't released identification of the body, but Darke County Sheriff Toby Spencer said "we are positive it is her."
In July 1984 Rodeheffer was charged with rape and served nearly a year in Randolph County Jail in Winchester, Ind., before being released to the Reception Diagnostic Center. The center is run in conjunction with the Plainfield Correctional Facility and is where Indiana adult male felons are sent to determine where they'll be institutionalized. The correctional facility's records section was closed Sunday and Rodeheffer's records were unavailable.
Allen said he's glad he could help in recovering the young woman's body, but he won't rest until Rodeheffer is arrested.
"I don't regret doing what I did. It was the only moral thing to do. It's just the stress it's put on my family. He's still a danger for everyone else, until he's captured."
* CONTACT Cathy Mong at 225-2353; or e-mail him at catherine_mong@coxohio.com