On the morning of May 29, 2025, 19-year-old Darion Jones of Dayton was found dead inside an SUV near West Grand and Lexington avenues by Liberation Park. Neighbors reported hearing gunfire and seeing people running and an abandoned vehicle around 9:45 a.m. Responding officers discovered Jones at the scene and the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office later identified him as the victim; detectives opened a homicide investigation.

Court records state detectives reconstructed the hours before the killing and learned Jones had been with 20-year-old Danny Demetrius Gladden Jr. and another man. An affidavit alleges Jones was in the passenger seat when Gladden Jr. shot him in the back of the head and that the men returned and tried to scrub the SUV with bleach. Gladden Jr. was taken into custody and booked June 10 on suspicion of murder; prosecutors later obtained an indictment charging him with two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, tampering with evidence and having weapons under disability. A separate indictment accuses Danny Gladden Sr. of obstructing justice and aggravated menacing for allegedly hiding his son and a rifle in Columbus.

No additional charged co-suspects from the vehicle have been named. If anyone knew Darion, was in that area that morning, or has information about the SUV or the alleged cleanup, please come forward.