A young man's remains are located near a creek Ryan Zimmerman, 21, went missing on September 25, 2015, from Columbus, Ohio. He had moved from Kentucky to Columbus in August of that year, where he was staying with Sarah Buzzard and her then-husband. On January 23, 2016, his skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near Grand Lake St. Marys State Park in Celina, Ohio. His body had been dismembered, and the remains were identified as Zimmerman's only in June 2020. It was later confirmed that his skull was never recovered.
Zimmerman had met Sarah Buzzard and her husband through online interactions, and he moved in with them with the intention of pursuing an intimate relationship. Sarah Buzzard, along with her partner Naira "Jenn" Whitaker, eventually murdered Zimmerman. Buzzard pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in 2021 as part of a plea deal that spared her the death penalty. She admitted to strangling Zimmerman, and both she and Whitaker dismembered his body, disposing of the remains in different locations, including Mercer County. Buzzard was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Whitaker, her accomplice, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before she could be arrested.
The investigation into Zimmerman's death revealed that he was involved in online relationships with the Buzzards, which eventually led to conflict. Buzzard confessed to killing Zimmerman following a heated argument, claiming she had acted out of anger when Zimmerman ruined her life. She and Whitaker used her vehicle to transport and dispose of Zimmerman's remains, and investigators believe that they left the Columbus area before ultimately dumping most of the body in Mercer County.
