The suspect in the Big Mac Bridge arson case has a decades-long violent criminal history

CINCINNATI — Assault, theft and drug possession are just some of the previous charges against the four people named by authorities in the massive fire that damaged the Big Mac Bridge.

James Hamilton, Terry Stiles, Zachary Stumpf and Kaitlen Hall were arrested in connection with the Nov. 1 fire at 1,000 Hands Playground in Sawyer Point Park.

Court records show the three men and women faced a judge on unrelated felony and misdemeanor cases before their arraignment Wednesday.

WCPO reviewed each suspect’s criminal history.

Terry Stiles, 39

Terry Stiles is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $1 million bond. Investigators charged him with one count of aggravated arson.

According to court documents, Stiles intentionally set fire to 801 E Pete Rose Way, “creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury to all drivers above,” including the driver of a flatbed tow truck.

He was absent from his arraignment Wednesday morning at the recommendation of the Hamilton County Sheriff because of his disorderly conduct in jail. WCPO requested and obtained jail video hours before his scheduled court appearance, in which deputies restrain Stiles to a chair and place him in a spit mask before removing him from the jail.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who are in Terry Stiles’ orbit, including his family, and a lot of people have said the same thing, that Terry Stiles has made it clear to them that he’s never going back to prison. He’d rather die,” fire specialist Stephen Metz told Russell.

It wasn’t the first time Stiles had been accused of disorderly or violent behavior. Before setting his bond, Hamilton County Judge Heather Russell spent four straight minutes reading Stiles’ lengthy criminal record dating back to when he was a juvenile on parole out of state in Texas.

Russell listed charges filed in Butler, Warren and Campbell counties between 2021 and 2023, most of which were dismissed. These included obstructing official business and unlawful possession of a firearm in Middletown, an OVI in Lebanon and trespassing in Newport.

“He has one violent felony, one, one violent felony, four felonies, nine misdemeanors, three failure to appear,” Russell said.

Courts dismissed a charge of resisting arrest in 2020, as well as a charge of assault and failure to restrain his pit bull in 2018. Stiles was convicted of aggravated menacing and drug trafficking in 2017. A judge dismissed an assault charge in 2016.

Stiles was convicted of felonious assault in 2005 and served the maximum sentence — eight years — in the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Stiles had pleaded guilty to the charge, admitting to assaulting Carl Leggett Jr. when he was 5 months old.

Police found Leggett “in distress” when they responded to his home on July 16, 2005, Deters said. The baby’s injuries were consistent with being beaten and shaken. Leggett had been in Stiles’ care at the time.

Leggett is said to have been unable to walk, see or eat normally.

Leggett died 14 years later in 2019 from complications from traumatic brain injury, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to a Hamilton County coroner’s report.

Months after Leggett’s death, prosecutors charged Stiles with murder, but a Hamilton County judge dismissed the indictment, citing two Ohio Supreme Court decisions that, under most circumstances, prosecutors cannot charge someone with murder in connection with a death after the person pleaded guilty to a lesser offense. .

Stiles’ juvenile record includes an aggravated menacing conviction in 2003, convictions for misdemeanor assault and a misdemeanor domestic violence threat in 2001 and another domestic violence charge in 2000.

Stiles was most recently charged with trespassing in April. This case is pending.

Zachary Stumpf, 23 years old

Zachary Stumpf is the second person charged with aggravated arson in connection with the fire under the Big Mac Bridge. He is also being held on $1 million bond.

Investigators said they were able to identify the 23-year-old based on videos and witness statements. Stumpf “intentionally set fire to a playground located under an interstate overpass,” according to court records.

Stumpf has no prior criminal record in Hamilton County. He pleaded guilty to driving without a license in June and had an eviction case dismissed in May.

At his hearing Wednesday, prosecutors and fire investigators told the judge about Stumpf’s uncooperative behavior throughout the fire investigation.

“In the days and weeks that followed … the defendant’s evasive tactics and the difficulty with which we could even bring him here today make us very concerned that he is a flight risk,” the prosecutor said.

While trying to arrest another suspect, authorities said they found Stumpf and Stiles hiding in the attic of the home. Hamilton County SWAT was called in to assist in their arrest.

Kaitlen Hall, 24

Kaitlen Hall is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice in connection with the fire investigation.

Hall “was asked questions about (Stiles’) phone number and whereabouts” and she gave false information to investigators, according to court records. Another court document says she was “questioned about her friendship of more than six years and denied knowing (Stumpf’s) last name when in fact she did know the information.”

Authorities were serving an arrest warrant at Hall’s home on Tuesday when they discovered Stiles and Stumpf hiding in the attic. Hall was taken into custody without incident.

Hall has a previous theft charge in 2023. It was dismissed. The 24-year-old was also charged with drug possession in 2022. A judge allowed her to pay a fine.

James Hamilton, 26 years old

Hamilton is also charged with obstruction of justice and, like Hall, is accused of providing misleading information to investigators about Stiles and Stumpf during officials’ investigation into the arson.

Hamilton has a previous drug possession charge from 2022. A judge allowed him to pay a fine and dismiss the case.

The 26-year-old has two previous traffic charges from 2022 and 2024 – both of which were dismissed.

Meanwhile, Hamilton has a criminal record for aggravated drug possession. Reading police found Hamilton with several grams of meth in April.