Toledo inmate indicted in prison attack, murder

6/20/2013

Three months after an inmate at Toledo Correctional Institution was strangled and another inmate attacked with boiling water, a convicted murderer was indicted Wednesday by a Lucas County grand jury for both incidents.

Dustin Lynch, 26, was indicted on two counts of aggravated murder in the March 17 death of Arturo Lopez, 43. Lynch also was indicted on one count of felonious assault for a March 10 attack on inmate Christopher Trent, 40. The attacks were part of a rising wave of violence at the prison since 2011 when the population increased and inmates were doubled up in single cells.

Rob Miller, chief of the special units division of the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, said Lynch and Lopez were cellmates when Lopez was killed. Lynch allegedly carved the word “CHOMO” into Lopez’s back, which investigators believe stood for child molestor.

“We believe there may have been prior problems between the two inmates, and therefore he planned this killing,” Mr. Miller said. “Another unusual situation is the word ‘CHOMO’ was cut with a razor into the victim’s back. It may have something to do with the prior problems between them.”

Lopez, formerly of Port Clinton, was in prison for a rape conviction from Ottawa County. Trent is serving 18 years for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated robbery from Montgomery County.

The attack on Trent – he was allegedly assaulted with boiling water and an 8-inch knife fashioned from the bottom of a stapler – was thought to have been retaliation for “not doing something he was supposed to do,” Mr. Miller said. “Because he failed to do it, he became a target of the defendant.”

Lynch is serving 20 years to life for killing 17-year-old JoLynn Mishne at her Medina County home in 2002. Miss Mishne was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in her bed.

According to court documents and news reports, she had convinced her father to allow Lynch, at the time a 15-year-old runaway, to stay at their house. She was killed a week later.

In a 2003 court ruling ordering Lynch to be certified to stand trial as an adult, Medina County Juvenile Court Judge John J. Lohn wrote, “Dustin Lynch is angry, asocial, brutal, and self-absorbed. He will be a threat to the community long after his twenty-first birthday.”

Contact Jennifer Feehan at jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.