DAYTON — Friends and family said Jeremy Van Voorhis and Clinton Pierce were best friends.
Police suspect Van Voorhis of killing and shooting Pierce and burying his body in a detached garage.
A family friend is left with questions as to why Pierce’s long time friend would do this to him.
Keisha Freeman moved into a house on Burkhardt Avenue several years ago and immediately became friends with her neighbors — Clinton “C.J.” Pierce and his fiancée. Amanda Carson.
“I met Amanda and I feel in love with her and the first day I met her and I met C.J., they are my heart,” Freeman said.
Freeman said she knew Pierce was close with Van Voorhis. She said they were best friends for roughly 20 years.
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“This is someone that you said was your brother, so it just doesn’t make sense,” Freeman said.
In mid-July Pierce disappeared. Family said Van Voorhis told them he saw Pierce in Huber Heights and other places.
Freeman said that she along with Pierce’s family put missing flyers around Huber Heights, they saw no sign of him.
Then on Aug. 18 Pierce’s fiancée and their son went to put a padlock on the door to their detached garage.
“Soon as you walked up the alley and you got to the bushes, you could smell him and it’s like for her to be the one to go back there and discover him and his son to discover him that way, that’s just... it’s heartbreaking,” Freeman said.
Police later identified the body found in the detached garage as Pierce.
After the shooting, Van Voorhis allegedly “hid Pierce’s body under multiple layers of flooring materials and other items in the detached garage” at the same house, according to court documents.
Police put out a warrant for Von Voorhis’ arrest. Days later, he was spotted in Lima.
After an hour long multi-county pursuit with authorities he was taken into custody in Shelby County.
Van Voorhis, was been charged with two counts of murder and felonious assault, as well as a single county of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse, according to Dayton Municipal Court records.
Freeman is glad he was caught but is left with many questions.
“I’m glad he’s caught, but what was your reason? Why did you do it?,” she said.
Van Voorhis is listed as an inmate in the Allen County Jail, according to online jail records.
An online fundraiser has been created to help support Pierce’s surviving Fiancée and children.