When a Franklin County SWAT team raided a Far West Side home in September 2021, they suspected there might be evidence of drug trafficking.
What they found was a “scene straight out of a horror movie,” the dismembered remains of a 32-year-old Allyson Lorenz inside the Bashan Drive garage.
Eric Ward, 36, was one of two people at the home when the raid occurred. He testified on Aug. 4 that he knew nothing about the body in the garage, despite items with his DNA on them being found in it.
A jury convicted Ward of aggravated murder, murder, gross abuse of a corpse and other charges in Lorenz’s death. He testified Aug. 4 in the closing moments of his trial before Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch.
The jury began its deliberations early that same afternoon, deliberating for about two hours before finding him guilty of all 18 charges. Ward now faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison without parole when Lynch sentences him at a later date.
Franklin County prosecutors described the death and discovery of Lorenz’s remains in September 2021 in a garage on the 1800 block of Bashan Drive as “a scene straight out of a horror movie.”
On Sept. 29, 2021, SWAT officers executed a search warrant on a home on the 1800 block of Bashan Drive related to Ward’s alleged selling of cocaine, methamphetamine, Oxycodone and fentanyl. During that process, according to trial testimony, detectives found multiple black trash bags in the condo’s garage with portions of Lorenz’s body inside them.
An autopsy by the Franklin County Coroner’s office found Lorenz died from multiple blunt force injuries that occurred during a beating. Her body was dismembered after her death.
Eric Ward testifies in his own defense on Aug. 4. Ward is charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse in connection with the September 2021 death of Allyson Lorenz.
“We didn’t know nothing about what was in the garage or nothing,” Ward testified, saying he also had cuts on his arm when police detained him, but he didn’t know how he got them.
Ward testified for less than an hour, telling the jury he had no idea how Lorenz died and that investigators planted and fabricated evidence to frame him.
Evidence presented in the case against Ward included video from a home improvement store that showed Ward swinging an axe and closing a pair of shears before another person bought them, along with a white Tyvex-like suit and eye protection. According to trial testimony, investigators recovered Lorenz’s DNA on the outside of the plastic suit and Ward’s DNA on its inside.
Testimony also showed plastic sheeting had been put up in the garage to cover the walls and floor. Crime scene investigators recovered the axe and shears as part of the evidence, covered with portions of Lorenz’s remains.
Ward testified he had gone with a woman to the store, but she had paid for the tools so she could clear brush at a homeless encampment where she sometimes stayed.
That woman, who was charged with Ward but pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, testified against Ward at his trial. The woman told the jury Ward had beaten both her and Lorenz for hours, retrieving boxing gloves he used for practice sparring to hit the women, before Lorenz became unresponsive and died.
The jury in the case was the second group to hear portions of the evidence. On July 14, a jury trial began; however, Lynch ended it after two days when a juror reported being approached by someone and told to make sure the jury didn’t reach a verdict.
A second trial began on July 28, with additional security in the hallway outside Lynch’s courtroom and anyone entering the courtroom was required to show a photo ID.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@gannett.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man convicted of murder after dismembering Ohio woman
