MARIETTA, Ohio. More than 31 years after a young mother and her toddler were found dead in a burned mobile home in rural Washington County, a grand jury has indicted a second man in the slayings. Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and Washington County Sheriff Mark Warden announced on September 16 that Johnny Ball, 64, of Waterford, had been indicted and arrested in the 1995 deaths of Kimberly Fulton, 28, and her 17 month old son, Daniel.

Ball is charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, four counts of perjury, one count of obstructing justice, one count of tampering with evidence, and two counts of obstructing official business. The indictment is an accusation. Ball is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds him guilty. The Attorney General’s Office stated that point directly in its announcement.

Sheriff Warden said Ball was taken into custody about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15, without incident and was being held at the Washington County Jail. Local reporting identified him as Johnny Ray Ball. People magazine, citing officials, said he was scheduled for arraignment on Tuesday, September 22. The latest official announcement described the burned home as being in Prairie Township.

Earlier official releases, court coverage, and local records have long identified the scene as a mobile home in Palmer Township near Waterford, sometimes described as Palmer Square. What investigators say happened in 1995 On March 5, 1995, firefighters responded to a mobile home fire in the early morning hours. The bodies of Kimberly Fulton and Daniel Fulton were found inside. The two were later described as having been found in separate bedrooms.

Their remains were so badly burned that they could not be recognized. The deaths first appeared consistent with an accidental fire. Family members were suspicious about the circumstances and the positions of the bodies. Investigators obtained an order to exhume the remains in May 1995 for a second autopsy.

That examination, later discussed in court through work associated with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, found bruises and no carbon monoxide in the victims’ lungs. Officials said those findings showed the mother and child had died before the fire started. A coroner found evidence suggesting they had been strangled or smothered. Investigators concluded the fire was set to conceal the homicides.

Lieutenant Bruce Schuck of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office later summarized the second autopsy this way: both Kim and Daniel had expired before the fire, and evidence suggested they were either strangled or smothered. Kimberly Kay Paxton Fulton had lived in the Waterford area for years, was a student at Washington State Community College, and was the mother of other children in addition to Daniel. Those surviving children were identified in contemporary records as Michael, Miranda, and Amy.

In a 1997 letter published in The Marietta Times and addressed to “the murderer(s) of Kim and Daniel Fulton,” her mother, Vera Paxton, asked how anyone could take a mother and brother from Kim’s three other children and how a 17 month old child could have done any harm. How the case went cold, then reopened Scott Hickman, a Waterford resident, was arrested in 1998 in connection with the deaths.

Investigators at the time said he had been at the scene when the fire was discovered. He was later released after about three weeks because prosecutors did not have enough evidence to proceed. A sealed affidavit opened later that year indicated investigators believed two people may have entered the home. The case then sat unresolved for more than two decades.

In 2019, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation. Detectives Jeff Seevers and Bruce Schuck led the local effort, working with agents from the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Officials said they reviewed thousands of pages of old case material and concluded the homicides could still be solved. Hickman was indicted in October 2021 on four counts of aggravated murder and two counts of murder.

A November 2021 bill of particulars in his case set out the state’s theory at that time: that Hickman picked up another man in the early morning of March 5, 1995, that the other man brought gasoline, that the two drove to the Fulton home, that Kimberly and Daniel were sleeping in beds at opposite ends of the residence, that the other man smothered or strangled them, that gasoline was poured in the living room, and that the home was set on fire before the men left.

That document described the state’s allegations in Hickman’s case. It was not a finding of fact against any uncharged person. Hickman’s trial was delayed after he was found incompetent to stand trial in 2023 because of schizoaffective disorder. He received treatment and later stood trial.

In August 2025, after a two week trial before Washington County Common Pleas Judge Mark Kerenyi, a jury convicted Hickman of four counts of aggravated murder and two counts of murder. The jury deliberated about two hours. On October 14, 2025, Judge Kerenyi sentenced him to life in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years. When asked whether he wanted to speak, Hickman said, “I’m innocent.”

Then Attorney General Dave Yost called the killings brutal and said they had left a family searching for answers for three decades. At sentencing he said a young mother and her baby had their entire lives ahead of them, and that the sentence could not restore what they might have been but did hold a murderer accountable.

Prosecutor Dan Kasaris, a senior assistant attorney general, told jurors the fire was not an accident and that Kimberly Fulton had been smothered, doused with gasoline, and then set on fire. He argued Hickman’s own words and conduct placed him in the crime. Kasaris also told the jury that after Daniel’s death, the child’s biological father went to court seeking to be removed from child support records.

Hickman’s attorney, James Owens, argued the state’s case rested on inferences about another uncharged person and questioned whether child support could explain a double homicide. Owens also challenged investigators’ reasons for ruling out other people. The jury rejected the defense and convicted Hickman. During that trial, prosecutors said more than one person was involved.

They presented evidence that Hickman was a friend of Daniel’s biological father. That man has not been charged in the murders. Detectives have long said they believed at least two people entered the home. The earlier case against Johnny Ball Ball first entered the public case file in May 2024, not on homicide charges but on accusations that he lied to a grand jury.

On May 15, 2024, he was indicted on five third degree felony counts of perjury and one third degree felony count of obstructing justice. Those charges were tied to statements alleged to have been made on or about September 12, 2023.

Court records summarized in local reporting said the indictment alleged Ball falsely stated that he was never in a vehicle with Scott Hickman on the morning of March 5, 1995; that he was at the scene, dragged hoses, and helped put out the fire; that he learned two or three days later someone had died in the fire; that he could not see the fire from his house because a field of corn blocked his view; and that he did not see Hickman the morning of the fire.

Detective Jeff Seevers said at the time that Ball kept giving false information and that the perjury charges followed grand jury testimony. Lieutenant Bruce Schuck said investigators believed, at a minimum, that Ball may have been present shortly after the fire and had information that could help the investigation.

Seevers also said in 2024 that Ball was not the other man described in Hickman’s 2021 bill of particulars, that detectives still believed two people went into the house, and that they were not yet sure of the full extent of Ball’s involvement. Ball was arrested then without incident, arraigned before Judge Kerenyi, and released on a personal recognizance bond. Those 2024 charges remained part of the case when the new indictment was returned.

Why authorities say a second arrest is happening now Officials have not publicly released a detailed forensic exhibit list explaining why murder charges were added in September 2026. What they have said is that the 2019 reopening produced Hickman’s conviction, that investigators kept pursuing additional leads after that conviction, and that those leads resulted in Ball’s new indictment. The Special Prosecutions Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office is handling the case.

Sheriff’s officials credited cold case detectives Jeff Seevers and Bruce Schuck, also identified in some recent reports as Lieutenant Brian Schuck, for continuing the investigation. Lieutenant Schuck said the arrest gave the Fulton family more answers and some additional closure, and that more work remains. “Tuesday was a good day for Daniel and Kim Fulton,” he said. “It was a good day for the entire Fulton family.”

He declined to discuss a motive. Authorities have asked anyone with information to contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit. They have also said the investigation is not finished. What has not been established in court against Ball As of the announcement, no jury has decided Ball’s guilt or innocence on the new charges.

No public statement from a defense attorney for Ball on the murder indictment was available in official releases or major local coverage reviewed for this report. The established court record to date is narrower. Kimberly Fulton and Daniel Fulton were found dead on March 5, 1995, after a fire at their mobile home. A later autopsy supported the conclusion that they were killed before the fire.

Scott Hickman was convicted in 2025 of aggravated murder and murder for his role and was sentenced to 20 years to life, a sentence he is appealing as of the rights reserved at sentencing. Ball was previously charged with lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice. He now faces homicide charges as well.