COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Each week NBC4 partners with the U.S. Marshals of the Southern District of Ohio to highlight a dangerous criminal in the community they are searching for.
It can take weeks or even months for the Marshals to gather evidence and information to allow them to serve a warrant. It can often take multiple attempts to make an arrest.
"The idea is. of course, to never put anybody else in harm's way and because this guy's criminal history includes weapons, you have to be careful of that stuff," Deputy U.S. Marshal Kevin Deppe, who supervises the Special Task Force assigned to serve high-risk warrants in Ohio, said.
Demond Blackwell, 49, wanted by Columbus Police for strangulation, was arrested by Deppe's team on Tuesday. Blackwell has a lengthy record of criminal activity and violent offenses.
"We just arrested Demond Blackwell, who's a 49-year-old male who's wanted for a felony strangulation," Deppe said. "He's got a very extensive criminal history that includes the use of weapons, conveyance of weapons, a lot of violent violence in his history and he was actively evading capture by keeping himself hidden from law enforcement officers."
"Intel on this guy is that he's been staying with a female, driving her car around," Deppe added. "In this case, you've got, you've got that, you've got pictures of the, of the guy you're looking for. Yeah. That's how we ended up at this hotel. We tracked the vehicle through several parts of Ohio into Kentucky and the latest hits put him here at this hotel."
Surveillance footage, traffic cameras, and tips from confidential informants are all tools the U.S. Marshals use to put these dangerous suspects behind bars.
Warrant Watch is one way tips from the public can help find fugitives.
"How important is the role that getting tips and information is in what you do?" asked NBC4's Kyle Beachy.
"You know, sometimes when people are actively avoiding capture, the only way that we move forward in our investigation is by receiving tips," Deppe said. "You know, we can only do so much to garner information from social media sources or from license plate reader cameras. But when it comes to furthering along the investigation, we really rely on the tips from people who know the targets that we're going after."
Anyone with information about a wanted person can submit a tip to the U.S. Marshals by clicking here.
