Police Investigating Man for Drug Trafficking Stumble Into Gruesome Murder, Dismemberment Case

Eric Ward (above left), 36, was also accused of attacking and beating a second woman into helping him dismember the body of Allyson Lorenz (above right), 32, after he'd spent three days physically beating her to death. On Monday, Ward was found guilty on 18 charges related to that death.

Police stumbled onto a scene described by prosecutors as a "scene straight out of a horror movie," according to The Columbus Dispatch, completely by accident.

They were investigating Ward at the time, but on suspicion that he was trafficking drugs.

The discovery came nearly four years ago, on September 29, 2021, when SWAT officers executed a search warrant at a home where they found Ward and another individual. The warrant was in relation to Ward's alleged selling of cocaine, methamphetamine, Oxycodone and fentanyl."

What investigators did not expect to find was multiple black trash bags in the garage of the condominium with parts of Lorenz's body inside them. An autopsy determined that she was killed by multiple blunt force injuries from a beating. Dismemberment occurred after death.

On August 4, Ward testified that he knew nothing about the body they found, despite investigators also recovering his DNA at the scene. There were also cuts on his arm when he was initially detained that he could not explain.

During his trial, where he maintained his innocence, Ward testified, "We didn't know nothing about what was in the garage or nothing." He further said he had no idea how Lorenz died, accusing police of planting and fabricating evidence against him throughout their investigation.

The Dispatch notes that some of the evidence that was brought against Ward in trial included video from a home improvement store that showed Ward wielding an axe and a pair of shears before a woman with him purchased both of them. He said in court that he'd gone with her to buy these items, which she needed to clear brush at a homeless encampment she stayed at sometimes.

The woman also purchased a white Tyvex-like suit and eye protection, per the newspaper. Investigators stated in court that they found Ward's DNA inside this plastic suit, and Lorenz's DNA on the outside of it.

They also showed evidence that plastic sheeting had been put up in the garage to cover the walls and floors. The aforementioned axe and shears were both recovered and, per police, still had portions of Lorenz's remains on them.

The woman he went shopping with, named Heather Baker, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

She also testified at Ward's trial against him, refuting his version of events. She told the jury that Ward had beaten both her and Lorenz for hours, even using boxing gloves he used to practice sparring, and that the beatings had continued until Lorenz became unresponsive and died.

Prosecutors alleged that Ward "brutally beat" Lorenz and then put a "wet wash cloth" over her mouth as she suffered from "agonal breathing" resulting from allegedly being thrown to the ground and pummeled, per a court filing dated November 17, 2023. She was then left there until she died.

That document detailed an alleged previous encounter of prolonged physical abuse when officers were dispatched on February 2, 2019, where they found "Allyson Lorenz with horrendous wounds after being beaten by Eric Ward for several days." He pleaded guilty in that case to 4th-degree Aggravated Assault and was ultimately released on November 30, 2020.

He then "forced himself into" Lorenz's home again, per the document, and began to distribute narcotics from there. Throughout the process, Ward had given police a different address for himself and there was no evidence he lived at Lorenz's home, so he was charged with kidnapping her in her own home, as well.

Then, according to prosecutors, "from September 25, 2021 to September 27, 2021, [Ward] mercilessly beat Ms. Lorenz in her own home until she succumbed to her injuries."

The document asserts that Baker, who testified against Ward in trial, "was present and beaten as well." According to another court filing dated May 10, 2023, Lorenz and Baker had gone to sleep on the third day of Lorenz's alleged beating, after he'd put the "wet wash cloth" over her mouth as she suffered "agonal breathing." When they woke up, she was dead.

That next morning, per the May 2023 filing, Ward and Baker "conducted numerous web searches regarding DNA evidence and blood." Ward then "decided to dismember" Lorenz's body, taking Baker "to a hardware store to purchase an axe, shears, and cleaning supplies," per the November filing.

Ward allegedly also drove Baker to a nearby storage unit, which she then purchased in her name. Surveillance video captured both of them as they moved "several firearms, pillows with blood, and a large amount of narcotics" from Lorenz's home to this unit.

Ward went about attempting to dismember Lorenz's body in her home. Per the documents, he "had not completed the dismemberment on September 29," with prosecutors calling this "fortuitous" as the Franklin County Sheriff's office was nearly a month into their drug trafficking investigation by that point.

Completely by coincidence, the detective on that case acquired a search warrant on September 29 for Lorenz's home, which they then executed on that same day. Upon arrival, police found Ward and Baker, along with "a large amount of heavy duty cleaning supplies including bleach, power wash, goggles, Tyvek cleaning suits, many trash bags, and more."

Inside the garage, they found Lorenz's remains inside more trash bags. After securing a second search warrant for evidence of murder, investigators found Baker's receipt for a storage unit. They also recovered cell phones belonging to Ward, Baker, and Lorenz, with these phones containing evidence of the abuses Lorenz suffered, and drug trafficking, per court documents.

They also spoke with neighbors, who reported seeing two individuals confirmed to be Ward and Baker hauling away "several black plastic bags from the house the day before." Obtaining a search warrant for the storage unit, police found the evidence contained therein.

As detailed in the May 2023 filing, Ward was hit with multiple charges in relation to both the drug trafficking investigation and the surprise murder investigation.

On October 8, 2021, Ward was charged in relation to the original drug investigation for Trafficking in Cocaine, Possession of Cocaine, Trafficking in a Fentanyl-Related Compound, Possession of a Fentanyl-Related Compound, 2nd and 3rd-Degree Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs, 2nd and 3rd-Degree Aggravated Possession of Drugs, two counts of Receiving Stolen Property, and three counts of Having Weapons While Under Disability.

On April 4, 2023, he was charged in the death of Lorenz for Kidnapping, Aggravated Murder, two additional counts of Murder, Domestic Violence, Tampering with Evidence, and Gross Abuse of a Corpse.

The first trial, which began July 14, was ended after just two days by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch after a juror reported being threatened. A second trial began July 28 with additional security outside the courtroom. This jury needed just two hours to convict Ward on all 18 charges he faced.

Ward faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. His sentencing his not yet been scheduled.