Suspect in body dumping case pleads guilty
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (July 6, 2022) – An Akron woman has admitted to dumping a 38-year-old’s body along a Goshen Township last fall.
26-year-old Cekoyia Riechers appeared in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court this morning, pleading guilty to a criminal indictment accusing her of abusing the corpse of Amber Sherrell, failing to report Sherrell’s death, and tampering with evidence. Judge Michael Ernest proceed to convict her of the crimes and scheduled a hearing to impose her punishment on August 23rd.
Prosecutors will be asking the judge to send Riechers to prison for three years, which is the maximum allowed by law, although he could also order local jail time or place her on probation.
Reichers’ former boyfriend, 38-year-old Daniel Fitzgerald of Akron, has pleaded not guilty to nearly identical charges and is due back in court on August 9th. A passerby called 9-1-1 after finding Sherrell’s body along White Bridge Road the morning of October 5th. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Officer performed the autopsy and determined that she died days earlier from a drug overdose.