DAYTON — A Montgomery County grand jury has indicted Jesse James Lockley Jr., 70, on three counts of murder in the 2003 killing of Arlene Hall, reviving a homicide investigation that went unsolved for more than two decades until new DNA testing brought it back to life.
Hall, a Dayton mother, was last seen alive on March 19, 2003. Her son reported her missing on April 3, 2003. In the weeks between those dates, a vehicle registered to Hall was found unoccupied in downtown Dayton on March 27 and ticketed for expired plates. The vehicle was towed on March 30, and court records later showed the expired plates were registered to Lockley’s sister-in-law.
Detectives discovered Hall’s body on April 21, 2003, in the basement of a property at 2027 Germantown Street in Dayton. Authorities ruled the death a homicide by strangulation.
Police say investigators pursued multiple leads in 2003 but identified no solid suspect, and the case went cold. Physical evidence from the scene, including Hall’s clothing, was retained — a decision that paid off more than 20 years later when new DNA testing opened the door to an indictment.
Court records describe an unusual development around the time the body was found: Lockley had been arrested on April 16, 2003, in an unrelated case, five days before Hall’s body was discovered.
The indictment marks a major turn in one of the Dayton area’s long-unsolved homicide cases and gives Hall’s family a renewed path toward justice.
