Records missing in death case?

NORWALK — Huron County is refusing to release records related to a suspicious traffic accident in 2018 in which a 21-year-old woman was killed. Shepard Katelynn Shepard died when the pickup she was driving mysteriously veered from the road into a ravine and caught fire. She was unable to escape from the vehicle, which had little physical damage not caused by the fire. She died from burns and her remains had to be identified using DNA samples. Sheriff Todd Corbin initially called it "a tragic accident." But later, Corbin said his office would "leave no stone unturned" in its investigation of what caused the mysterious accident. He's had no comment since. The Register began asking about the investigation of Shepard's death after a man was indicted in February for allegedly killing Amanda Dean. Dean's family reported her missing in July 2017, but for more than 5½ years, Sheriff Corbin refused to search for her or investigate her disappearance, claiming she was alive. Corbin The sheriff and the sheriff's detectives at that time didn't investigate anything despite Dean's family pleading with Corbin for help. In light of that, and in light of internal reports from the sheriff's office that state Corbin on more than one occasion failed to properly file reports and followup on investigations, the Register began looking at other cold cases to see if they were similarly handled. The sheriff's office responded to a records request last week for the 2018 crash report stating that the accident that killed Katelynn Shepard was still under investigation. The crash report and other reports related to the investigation likely do not fall under that exemption, however, and the sheriff's office previously released the crash report back in 2018. Sitterly Since then the sheriff has come under fire for failing to properly maintain records and make those records available to the public as state law requires. It's unknown if some requested records that are missing exist, if they were ever created, or if they have been lost, misplaced or destroyed. The Register has made requests for incident reports, employee records, internal reports and other documents. Someone using a sheriff's email account who refuses to identify themselves recently began responding to some records requests, but that person appears to have a limited understanding of the requirements in the law. Corbin's office has referred questions about compliance with the Public Records Act to Huron County Prosecutor James Sitterly, who does not answer questions. Sitterly's office at times also fails to properly respond to records requests. Neither Corbin or Sitterly will say if any corrective steps are being taken to ensure that public records are being properly maintained and managed by their offices. Sitterly and Corbin both also were asked last week to provide a status update concerning the investigation. As of early Monday, they had not responded. Pictured is the pickup truck involved in Katelynn Shepard's death. Provided photo