When his son went missing this spring, Jimmie Jones hoped he had just left town to get away for a while.
But the mystery of Christian Snow-Veley’s disappearance was solved Tuesday by identification of his remains, discovered last week in an abandoned house being prepared for demolition.
Now, authorities have to figure out who killed him — and why.
Snow-Veley, 22, was shot multiple times in the head and torso, Lucas County Deputy Coroner Cynthia Beisser said Tuesday, six days after an asbestos-removal crew found his body in the basement of 438 E. Streicher St, a half mile from his Hudson Street home.
“Who may have wanted him dead? That’s the big question,” police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said.
Snow-Veley’s stepfather reported him missing May 29, two days after relatives recalled last seeing him.
His father, who lives in South Toledo, said he, Snow-Veley, and Snow-Veley’s young son had spent time together shortly before the man disappeared. The three had made a point to get together weekly during the last several months, and Snow-Veley seemed like his normal, “happy, jolly” self.
“I still don’t know if he was in any trouble or not, but something ain’t right,” Mr. Jones said.
Dr. Beisser said it was impossible to tell how long Snow-Veley had been in the house on Streicher, and declined to say how many times he had been shot.
Relatives had reported receiving weird, unsettling phone calls while they searched for Snow-Veley for several months in parts of central and North Toledo. Callers told them Snow-Veley was buried in a shallow grave in a wooded area or under trees.
When a decomposed body was found July 10 in an abandoned, partially burned garage on Buckeye Street, Snow-Veley’s relatives and friends went there to see for themselves, and believed the body was Snow-Veley’s. But investigators quickly determined that body was someone else — an as-yet unidentified person for whom Sergeant Heffernan said DNA analysis is needed.
Police had actively investigated Snow-Veley as a missing person since the end of May, Sergeant Heffernan said.
The case “has taken a bit of a turn now that it’s a confirmed homicide, now that we have a body,” the sergeant said.
Police “have been working closely with family and others in the community to see who many have wanted to harm Christian,” he said.
Contact Taylor Dungjen at: tdungjen@theblade, 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.