On New Year’s Day, Keris L. Riebel, 22, was working as a cashier at the Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Dollar General.
Bethel M. Bekele, 27, entered the store waving a machete. Police were called, but Riebel had been hacked to death by the time they arrived.
Bekele then drove himself to the police station, surrendered, and confessed. He had only moved to the small town of Sandusky from North Carolina six months earlier. He worked at Bob Evans but was unemployed at the time of his rampage. He has no connection to Riebel. Wyandot County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Figlewicz called the attack “random, sudden, and unprovoked.”
It was the town’s first murder since 2001. Upper Sandusky has 6,619 people, which the US census lists as 0.1% Black.
Bekele was arraigned in Wyandot Municipal Court today. His bond hearing is scheduled for January 11th.
We believe that Bekele was living in Cary, NC, with his family and was born in Ethiopia. This is something we are still trying to confirm. The story has only received coverage in the local market, and none of these reporters seem interested in investigating his background.
