Lawsuit accuses Blue Ash police of planting evidence in case
Exonerated Elwood Jones sues Blue Ash, alleging officers planted a pendant and suppressed evidence in a 1994 murder case.
The Cincinnati Enquirer
- Elwood Jones, who spent nearly 30 years on death row, is suing the city of Blue Ash and police officers who investigated the case against him.
- Jones’ 1996 conviction was overturned in 2022, and the case was dismissed last year.
- The suit alleges that a key piece of evidence, a pendant, was planted and that evidence pointing to other suspects was ignored.
CINCINNATI — A man who spent nearly three decades on death row for a murder that prosecutors now say he did not commit has sued an Ohio city and multiple former police officers, alleging they fabricated and suppressed evidence and conducted a flawed investigation.
The lawsuit, filed July 24 in federal court in Cincinnati, is the second civil case filed by Elwood Jones since his 1996 murder conviction was overturned in 2022. Prosecutors formally dismissed the case last year, ending a prosecution that had kept Jones imprisoned for 27 years.
In December 2025, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich dropped the case against Jones, saying she did not believe he committed the crime. She cited several factors in her decision, including flaws in the original investigation and new scientific testing that excluded Jones as a suspect.
In January, Jones, 74, sued the state of Ohio seeking compensation for the years he spent behind bars. That lawsuit is still pending.
The new lawsuit names nine former Blue Ash, a Cincinnati suburb, police officers involved in the investigation of the 1994 killing. The suit argues that the case was the city’s first homicide in at least 15 years and that the police department was inexperienced in handling crime scenes.
As a result, the lawsuit alleges, key evidence was removed, contaminated or destroyed. The suit also alleges the investigation was “fundamentally and irreparably corrupted by cognitive bias,” arguing that once investigators focused on Jones as a suspect, they failed to seriously pursue alternative suspects or theory of the crime.
“Any evidence … that was inconsistent with Mr. Jones’ purported guilt was intentionally ignored, discounted or suppressed, and when doing that was not enough, defendants planted evidence to manufacture a basis to arrest (him),” the lawsuit states.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Blue Ash said the city could not comment on the allegations because the litigation is pending and involves an investigation and prosecution that occurred decades ago. “The city will respond through the court process, as appropriate,” according to the statement.
Jay Clark, an attorney for Jones, declined further comment, saying the lawsuit speaks for itself.
Lawsuit: Case against Elwood Jones built on circumstantial evidence
The case stems from the 1994 killing of 67-year-old Rhoda Nathan in her room at an Embassy Suites hotel in Blue Ash.
Jones had worked at the hotel for about two years. He had a prior criminal record, mostly for theft, and was known to local prosecutors. According to the lawsuit, investigators quickly focused on him as their primary suspect.
Prosecutors built their case around circumstantial and other evidence that they said proved Jones murdered Nathan. But the lawsuit alleges police failed to properly secure the crime scene and nearby areas.
Among other claims, the suit says bloody footprints leading away from Nathan’s room were not adequately protected and were “smeared and destroyed” before they could be fully documented. It also alleges police failed to collect bloody towels from the room, allowing housekeeping staff to remove them.
The lawsuit further alleges that a Blue Ash police officer planted evidence in Jones’ car.
The pendant
Police seized Jones’ car more than a week after Nathan was killed. The car was thoroughly searched by “multiple investigators working together,” according to the lawsuit. The search turned up nothing.
But at Jones’ 1996 trial, an officer testified that he later searched the vehicle again by himself and found a pendant inside a toolbox in the car. Prosecutors presented the pendant as key evidence linking Jones to the killing, describing it as a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry made from a family heirloom.
The lawsuit challenges that account, arguing that the circumstances surrounding the pendant’s discovery are “so riddled with inconsistency, implausibility and internal contradiction that the most reasonable inference is that the pendant was never found in Mr. Jones’ toolbox, at all.”
The suit alleges there is no clear written record identifying who found the pendant or documenting how it was discovered. It also alleges that Nathan’s family provided investigators with evidence showing the pendant had been purchased from a jewelry store rather than fashioned from a family heirloom.
According to the lawsuit, investigative notes reflecting that information were not disclosed to Jones or his attorneys until after he had been convicted and sentenced to death.
Other allegedly suppressed evidence
Elwood Jones discusses life before and after prison
Elwood Jones, who was released from death row in 2023, discusses life before and after prison as he awaits a new trial.
The lawsuit also alleges there was a “systematic suppression” of thousands of pages of investigative materials from Jones and his attorneys before trial, including documents identifying numerous, credible alternative suspects. According to the suit, those suspects included:
- A hotel employee who was on the property the day Nathan was killed but was not scheduled to work, and when interviewed by police asked if Nathan could identify her assailant.
- A plumber with a criminal record that included violent crimes who was seen “sneaking around” the hotel and whose alibi was never verified.
- A hotel employee who quit immediately after the murder and moved away, leaving behind an $800 paycheck.
Police also received a tip about another man’s supposed confession to the crime, but it was never disclosed to Jones and his attorneys, according to the suit.
The suit states that undisclosed evidence also included that Nathan tested positive for Hepatitis B — a highly infectious virus — but Jones, who was accused of violently beating her, tested negative. An infectious disease expert testified at a post-conviction hearing that given the bloody crime scene, Jones, who had an infected wound on his hand that day, would would have contracted Hepatitis B.
Had Blue Ash police properly considered evidence already contained in their files, the lawsuit argues, Jones “never would have been charged.”
Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY