‘Listen to your gut;’ City honors couple who helped catch suspect in deadly shooting

MIAMISBURG — A city has honored the couple who helped police find a man wanted in a deadly shooting.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the shooting occurred at a home on Golden Arrow Court in Miamisburg around 9:30 p.m. on March 12.

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When police arrived, they found 52-year-old Leslie Ross dead inside. She had been shot five times.

Katelynn and Matthew Pope helped police catch the suspect, Demetrius Turner, 32, about 15 hours into the manhunt.

They told News Center 7 that the whole situation was surreal.

The Popes were out with their two daughters and saw Turner standing in front of a driveway on March 13.

At the time, they didn’t know he was a murder suspect but said something was off about what they saw.

“We knew he didn’t live there because we know the people that live there and that’s what really gave it away. And then once we got up the road, we waved down a Miamisburg police officer and we let him know that someone was in the woods over there,” Matthew said.

When Matthew told the officer what Turner was wearing, they knew exactly who he was talking about.

“He had a white shirt on, and by the time I even got that out, the officer already knew like what was going on and he kind of, the officer just kind of took off,” Matthew said.

“And then we kept going, and then three more cruisers came flying past us, and then what, three detectives and we’re like okay,” Katelynn said.

Matthew said he saw Turner’s mugshot on the Miamisburg Police Department Facebook page earlier that day.

He realized it was the same man when a police sergeant stopped to thank the Pope’s.

“He shook my hand he said thank you, you just got a murderer off the road and we were like. That hit us, it hit us because we had no idea what was going on,” Matthew said.

The couple had this message for anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation.

“Listen to your gut,” Katelynn said.

“Yep, listen to your gut, and if you see something out of the ordinary that doesn’t belong in your neighborhood or a sketchy individual. Follow the local police officers’ Facebook pages because there’s a lot of information,” Matthew said.

Miamisburg Police Chief Mike Berm told News Center 7 that Turner and Ross had been in a relationship for several months until Ross broke it off.