A man accused in a murder that took place in Summit County late Friday night has been captured following a multi-state manhunt.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol says 34-year-old Paul D. Randall Jr of Dolgeville, NY, is now in their custody. Officials had believed he may have been trying to escape to his native state of New York, but he ended up being captured on interstate 70 in Cambridge, Ohio, about two hours south of Cleveland.
Police confirm Randall was a passenger in the car driven by his girlfriend. He was taken into custody without incident.
Witnesses told authorities Randall and another man were involved in a verbal altercation at a rest stop on I-77 in Bath Township when Randall stole the victim's Ford F-350, knocked him to the ground, and ran him over without stopping. The victim, identified as 42-year-old North Olmsted native Scott Reichard, was pronounced dead at the scene. The truck was later found abandoned in a downtown Cleveland parking lot.
"This is horrifying. It's horrifying, " said one woman who was at the rest stop during the murder.
A truck driver, the woman who does not want to be identified, say she was sound asleep. She spoke to WKYC about how she woke up to an alarm of police knocking on her window. That knock was to tell her someone had just been killed just a few feet away.
"I couldn’t take off today my legs were shaking," she said.
She said she didn't see anything, but she heard some noise...she just didn't think anything of it.
"I heard two loud voices, but I [only] heard two syllables,” she said. "That was an innocent person and he was out here minding his own business and now he's dead."
WKYC has confirmed Randall faced multiple charges back in June of 2017 after speeding away from a police officer following a traffic stop. He later drove off the road and ran into the woods before being arrested at his home before allegedly damaging property at the police station.
Randall is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday in Summit County.