One woman working at a Dollar Tree store in Ohio was brutally murdered by a man wildly wielding a machete early New Year’s Day.
Pedro Gonzalez, a Senior Writer for Chronicles Magazine that lives close to the location the murder took place, highlighted the store on social media this past Monday. He also made sure to share a GoFundMe page seeking to take care of the funerary expenses for the family. As reported by area news reports, the man allegedly went into the store and quickly attacked the woman, slashing her to death, before going and turning himself into police custody.
“On New Year’s Day, Bethel Bekele entered a Dollar Tree with a machete, approached Keris Riebel while she was working, and hacked her to death,” stated Gonzalez in a Twitter post. “Police don’t have a motive and, for some odd reason, this isn’t a national story.”
“Riebel, 22, was just married, which is why pretty all public pictures of her are proposal/wedding related,” he tacked on to his statement in another tweet which hosted a link to the GoFundMe page for her family. As of writing, the fundraiser has managed to surpass the original $30.000 original goal set for the fundraiser. The Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Police Department put out a statement on their Facebook page highlighting the events that took place that day. “On January 01, 2023, at 4:25 p.m. the Upper Sandusky Police Department was dispatched to Dollar Tree for a man waving a weapon around inside the store,” explained Jared Lucas, the police chief, in a release. “Before police arrived, the man left the store. Officers arrived and found a female employee deceased. A short time later an officer located a suspect and he was taken into custody. Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is currently processing the crime scene. The Wyandot County Major Crimes Unit is currently investigating the incident.”
Lucas also released some details for the story as part of an interview with ABC 6, a local news outlet. As stated by Lucas, the suspect, “Bekele entered the store with the machete, approached Riebel, and struck her numerous times with the machete.” He stated that many other people were present inside the store when the attack took place. Bekele then went directly to the Wyandot County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies at the office advanced on him before he quickly surrendered.
The suspect apparently has no criminal history, and police are still looking into any connections whatsoever between him and the victim. It is unclear what made him commit his crime.
