GEORGETOWN, Ohio — A special grand jury impaneled in May to investigate evidence surrounding the death of Cheryl Fossyl returned Monday with no indictments.

Although no one was exonerated, the grand jury determined there was insufficient evidence to have anyone face trial for murder.

Fossyl, who was 16 at the time of her death, disappeared from Georgetown, June 4, 1977. Her severed head was found a week later by four boys fishing near a bridge spanning Straight Creek on U.S. 68. Fossyl’s nude body was found in a creek bed in Adams County more than two weeks later.

More than 24 years after her death, Brown County Sheriff Dwayne Wenninger reopened the case shortly after taking office in January 2001.

Fossyl’s body was exhumed Dec. 17 from the Tate Township Cemetery in Bethel and was taken to Dayton Forensics for DNA testing and a complete autopsy, which was not performed at the time of her death.

Controversy and speculation have surrounded the case over the years.

On Feb. 7, an affidavit filed by the Brown County Board of Commissioners requested the court appoint a special prosecutor to handle the reopened murder case to assure no conflict of interest impede a full and complete investigation and prosecution, if warranted.

Brown County Judge R. Alan Corbin later recused himself from the case.

In response to the commissioners’ request, Brown County Prosecutor Thomas Grennan maintained the appointment of a special prosecutor was unnecessary and would be a waste of taxpayer funds. Grennan stated he previously requested the chief criminal prosecutor from Clermont County review the Fossyl file and evidence presented by the sheriff’s office.

Grennan said the criminal prosecutor was given the instructions to review the case and to speak to anyone he deemed appropriate regarding the case and has subsequently communicated with the sheriff’s office and with private counsel for the Fossyl family.

“To my knowledge, neither he nor I have been presented with any additional information about the case. It is his opinion, as it is mine, that with the present state of the case, there is insufficient admissible evidence to proceed to a grand jury, much less sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.

On Feb. 14, an affidavit was filed in Brown County Common Pleas Court by the Fossyl family’s attorney, Alphonse Gerhardstein on the basis Grennan was advised by the Fossyl family he and other present and former county officers may be named as defendants in the federal lawsuit brought by the family alleging civil rights violations the murder investigation.

The affidavit also accused Grennan and his family of socializing with murder suspects in the case.

A hearing was held Feb. 19 in Georgetown before Clermont County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert P. Ringland to consider the validity of the county commissioner’s request for a special prosecutor in the case.

During the hearing, Grennan stepped down from the case, stating allegations in the affidavit filed on the Fossyl family’s behalf created a “media circus” centering around him and his family.

Following the hearing, Ringland appointed Mark Piepmeier, veteran assistant prosecuting attorney for Hamilton County, Ohio, to serve as a special prosecutor in the homicide case. Hamilton County prosecuting attorney Seth Tieger was also assigned to handle the case.

Since May 8, the grand jurors met six times and heard testimony from more than 40 witnesses.

“Anyone who said they had information about the murder or was thought to know something was issued a subpoena and put before the grand jury under oath,” according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.

Jurors heard testimony from coroners, forensic experts, police investigators and civilians.

“The passage of time, exposure to the elements and decomposition of the body handcuffed the investigation from the start,” Piepmeier said Tuesday. “In a homicide, you build your case with forensic evidence, eyewitness testimony and confessions. There was no forensic evidence developed to link anyone to this crime, no known living eyewitnesses and no one came forward to confess. As a result, there was little solid evidence for the grand jury to rely on.”

Both prosecutors also praised Wenninger and Brown County Sheriff’s Chief of Detectives Barry Creighton for their efforts in reopening the case.

The decision by the grand jury not to return an indictment shouldn’t be viewed as a failure on the sheriff’s part to properly investigate the case, Piepmeier and Tieger said.

The two prosecutors also thanked Grennan for his cooperation “under difficult circumstances.”Because there is no statute of limitations for murder, the case could be reopened in the future but the prosecutors said there would have to be a significant credible development before the case could be considered solvable.

Gerhardstein said Tuesday a civil suit on behalf of Fossyl’s family is still pending.

“From our perspective, we are disappointed (the grand jury didn’t return an indictment). But this doesn’t interfere with our ability to file a civil case which we still intend to do,” he said.

Gerhardstein alleged at least two people responsible for Fossyl’s death are “still at large.”

Fossyl’s family is still pursuing two goals, he said, “to recover all (Cheryl Fossyl’s) remains because some are still missing and to bring justice to those responsible for her death and to those who were involved in the 25-year delay in the investigation.”

Wenninger said Tuesday, “Every murder deserves a complete and thorough investigation and I feel our office gave 110 percent to this investigation. We reopened this case in 2001 with very little information to go on. We went as far as we could with the evidence we had to work with. I feel that the evidence and testimony in this case deserved to be presented to the grand jury.”

He said his office will continue to thoroughly investigate all unsolved homicides in Brown County in the hopes of bringing closure to the cases.

Piepmeier and Tieger urge anyone who has not come forward with information to do so “so that someday the killer or killers of Cheryl Fossyl can be brought to justice.”