Second suppression hearing held in Van Wert murder case

VAN WERT — Allen County Judge Jeffrey Reed will soon rule on a motion to suppress certain data taken from a Rockford man’s cell phone after a suppression hearing was held Tuesday in the Van Wert Common Pleas Court in the case dealing with the murder of a Van Wert resident.

Ryan Houser’s attorney, Kenneth Rexford, filed the motion to exclude Houser’s cloud storage as evidence because, as Rexford wrote in the motion, Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office Det. Sgt. Kyle Fittro didn’t have probable cause when he requested a search warrant for both the local data in the cell phone and the cloud storage.

“Note that this motion only addresses probable cause as to cloud storage because the defense concedes consent as to items stored on the cell phone,” Rexford wrote.

During the hearing, Van Wert Prosecutor Eva Yarger said Houser consented twice to the cell phone search, and copies of the interview with the consent were provided to Reed for review. Fittro also testified about how cloud data and local data on a cell phone would be indiscernible because it is designed to be a “seamless experience” for the user, but extracting the data would separate the different types of data.

Reed presided over this hearing only because Van Wert Common Pleas Court Judge Martin Burchfield approved the search warrant on the phone.

Previously, Burchfield denied all but one motion to suppress any statements Houser, 38, made to police during September of 2023. He found Houser was advised of his rights before an interview at the Van Wert Police Department; at his home before an interview at the Rockford Police Department and at the time of his arrest by Van Wert police on a warrant from Mercer County.

However, Burchfield granted the motion to suppress the statements made during an interview with Van Wert detectives at the Mercer County Jail in October because he was not formally advised of his Miranda rights. This interview will no longer be able to be used as evidence by the prosecution.

Houser was indicted on four counts: aggravated murder, murder, tampering with evidence and having weapons while under disability.

The charges stem from the death of Barbara Ganger, 43, at the Van Wert West Apartments. Van Wert police were dispatched to the apartment complex on Sept. 4, 2023, for a welfare check on Ganger. Officers made entry into the apartment and found the woman dead on the floor. During the investigation it was discovered Ganger was shot once in the stomach area and once in the eye.

Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.