Putnam Co. teen to be tried as an adult in deaths of 2 brothers

Michael Aaron Fay, 17, is escorted out of the courtroom after a hearing to transfer the case from juvenile court to Putnam County Common Pleas Court, where the teenager can be tried as an adult for the deaths of Blaine Romes, 14, and Blake Romes, 17.

OTTAWA, Ohio — A Putnam County Juvenile Court judge today said the case of a 17-year-old charged with the deaths of two teenage brothers will be handled in Common Pleas Court.

The case of Michael Aaron Fay, 17, who is charged in the deaths of brothers Blaine, 14, and Blake, 17, will be presented to a county grand jury in July. The Fay Youth appeared in Putnam County Juvenile Court today for a hearing on the prosecution’s request to have the defendant tried as an adult in Putnam County Common Pleas Court.

State law mandates a 16 or 17-year-old be tried as an adult in cases involving aggravated murder or murder if probable cause is established at the juvenile court hearing.

The Fay youth is charged with two counts of delinquency in connection with aggravated murder in the May 9 deaths of the boys, who were shot in an Ottawa mobile home.

The suspect and his mother Victoria Fay lived in the residence with the Romes brothers and their mother Michelle Grothause, who called police after finding the three teenagers missing.

The Fay youth was arrested later that day in Columbus and gave information to authorities that led to the locations of Blaine and Blake Romes’ bodies.

The defendant's attorney Shannon McAlister and court-appointed attorney William Kluge sought unsuccessfully last week to bar media coverage of pretrial juvenile court hearings, but Judge Michael Borer denied the request.