Federal prosecutors have filed charges in U.S. District Court against two Middletown men accused of helping conceal the death of a pregnant woman whose body was later found in a plastic storage tote along a rural Montgomery County road. Authorities say 28-year-old Brittany Fuhr-Storms was left in a Middletown home for several days before her body was moved. One of three suspects has already pleaded guilty and was sentenced last month.
Federal complaints name Ricky J. Sheppard and Walter Edward Wade and accuse both men of conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing an object, concealing an object to impair its availability for an official proceeding, and acting as accessories after the fact, according to Journal-News. The federal filings led judges to vacate the defendants’ scheduled Butler County jury trials while the U.S. Attorney’s Office reviews the evidence now in its hands.
How the body was found
People walking along Fort Anthony Road in Jackson Township on Aug. 3, 2025, spotted a sealed plastic tote on the roadside and called authorities. Deputies say a decomposed body was found inside, officials told WCPO. An autopsy later showed Fuhr-Storms was pregnant, and investigators say the fetus likely was delivered after her death; court records and police reports say the newborn was found wrapped separately inside the container, according to FOX19. Detectives ultimately traced the case back to a Middletown address after finding items at a suspect’s residence that matched the wrapping and sealing materials, records show.
One defendant pleaded guilty
Before the federal charges dropped, a third man had already faced a local courtroom. James Rothenbusch, 52, pleaded guilty in January to complicity to tampering with evidence and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in February, court reporting shows. In a painful statement to the judge, Fuhr-Storms’ brother said, “She died in his house with my nephew,” and prosecutors quoted Rothenbusch as saying he was high and scared when he failed to call 911, according to WLWT.
Why prosecutors moved the case
Butler County officials told local reporters that federal prosecutors sought jurisdiction so they could pursue additional evidence and charges that overlap with the state case, according to Journal-News. Court documents note that the state still has the option to seek a new indictment later if federal proceedings do not address all of the alleged conduct.
Wade and Sheppard are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, according to court records and local reporting. It is not yet clear when a federal trial might be set; filings say the timing will depend on how long it takes the U.S. Attorney’s Office to consolidate and review the evidence now assembled in the federal case, per WLWT…