Patrick McDonough

Patrick P. McDonough was a 40-year-old white man known in the poker circles of southwestern Ohio. Described by acquaintances as a loner, he was a regular in Texas Hold 'Em tournaments throughout the region and also worked as a poker dealer at the Orioles Club in West Carrollton. He was active in online poker tournaments as well. Investigators learned that he was a private person who largely kept to himself and had not been in contact with his family for about four years before his death. He was unmarried and had no known girlfriend.

On the night of Monday, November 5, 2007, McDonough was returning to the In-Town Suites, an extended-stay motel on Kingsridge Drive in Miamisburg, Ohio. Sometime between 9:00 and 9:05 p.m., he parked his car in the front lot and began walking across the sidewalk toward the building's main entrance. As he did, a man emerged from behind other parked cars and approached him.

According to witnesses, the man was wearing all black clothing and a hooded sweatshirt. He walked quickly toward McDonough, closing the distance to within five to eight feet. Without a word being exchanged, the assailant raised a silver, long-barreled revolver and shot McDonough once in the forehead. After firing the single shot, the man turned and ran toward the rear of the motel.

The shooter fled to a dark-colored, late-1990s model Chevrolet Tahoe that was waiting with another unidentified man behind the wheel. The vehicle sped away, heading east on Kingsridge Drive before turning south on Lyons Ridge Drive and disappearing. No one was able to get a license plate number.

The Miami Township Police Department investigated the homicide, but the case proved difficult. Witnesses gave varied descriptions of the shooter, though he was generally said to have a short, stocky build, which was obscured by his loose-fitting clothes. Detectives delved into McDonough’s life and his connection to the gambling world but found no evidence that he was indebted to anyone or that anyone held a grudge against him. The people they interviewed knew him only through poker and confirmed that he did not associate with anyone outside of the games.

No arrests have ever been made in connection with the murder. The slug recovered from the scene was sent to the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab for preservation and potential future comparisons. As of November 2007, the case went cold, and the killing of Patrick McDonough remains unsolved.