Vinton County Deputies Make Three Arrests, Probe Death Investigation in Five Days

A death investigation on Two Mile Road in Brown Township anchored a five-day stretch in which Vinton County deputies made three arrests, responded to six vehicle crashes, fielded two separate burglary reports, and answered calls to three fires between March 25 and March 29.

Deputies arrived at the Two Mile Road scene at 12:07 p.m. on March 25 after a reported death. The Sheriff's Office activity report offered no further detail about the circumstances or the person involved. Such investigations typically proceed in coordination with the county coroner and, where warranted, are forwarded to the prosecutor's office for review. No connection between the death investigation and the three arrests made during the same period has been indicated.

The arrests came on consecutive days. At 1:25 a.m. on March 26, a suspicious-vehicle report on Buttermilk Road in Harrison Township led to the citation of 23-year-old Destinay Sullivan of Ray for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated; Sullivan was released to a sober adult. The following night, at 2:34 a.m. on March 27, deputies arrested 30-year-old Brandon Cantrell of Hamden on outstanding Vinton County theft warrants and transported him to the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail. On the morning of March 28, a domestic disturbance on U.S. Highway 50 in Richland Township ended with 51-year-old Tammy Fausnaugh of McArthur in custody on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest; Fausnaugh was also booked at the regional jail. All three are presumed innocent unless proven otherwise.

The geographic spread of calls points to the breadth of coverage the Sheriff's Office must sustain across the county. Knox Township alone generated three entries in five days: a residential burglary on Bunker Hill Road, a commercial alarm on Weaver Church Road, and a second residential burglary logged on State Route 160 in Clinton Township. U.S. Highway 50 surfaced in both a fire call in Elk Township and the Fausnaugh arrest, consistent with the corridor's recurring role as a high-activity zone for the department.

Six vehicle crashes across five days added further strain. The activity log does not specify whether any crash produced injuries, but the volume signals a persistent road-safety pressure on a department that also handled three mental-health crises, three domestic disputes, and an array of welfare checks and reckless-driver complaints during the same period. Fires on Walnut Grove Road in Jackson Township and on Miller Avenue in Hamden extended the call list alongside the Elk Township blaze.

The Sheriff's Office has not publicly addressed what additional patrols or preventive measures, if any, it plans in response to the concentrated activity. The death investigation on Two Mile Road remains the most consequential open item; a coroner ruling or a referral to the prosecutor would obligate the office to account publicly for how the case is being handled.