Man accused in deadly Grandview Heights assault now charged with reckless homicide

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GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Franklin County grand jury on Thursday indicted a man on charges connected to a Grandview Heights man's death from "severe head injuries."

Jacob Laurence, 33, faces felony charges including a count of reckless homicide and two counts of tampering with evidence, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records. Grandview Heights police implicated him in the November death of Stephen Albright, eventually leading to a hunt involving SWAT agents to find him.

A city spokeswoman added that more charges against Laurence could come. Police also took a woman connected with Laurence into custody and questioned her, but never identified her or filed any charges against her.

The investigation began under uncertain circumstances the evening of Nov. 13, when Grandview Heights police found Albright unconscious with serious head injuries in the village of Marble Cliff. Detectives originally didn't know how he received the injuries, but investigated the case as a felonious assault.

Albright died a few days later, on Nov. 17 in a local hospital. From there, Grandview Heights police said they swapped the case to a death investigation. They identified Laurence as a person of interest after surveillance cameras spotted him in the area near where Albright was found.

At the time of Laurence's arrest, he also had an outstanding warrant for a burglary investigation. He already pleaded guilty to that case in April 2023. As a result of his arrest in the Albright case, the court revoked his probation from the burglary case.

Since investigators first located Laurence after Albright's death, prosecutors also brought a case against him for a felony escape charge, court records show. The docket listed the incident happening on Jan. 14, but the indictment for that case wasn't available on the common pleas court website as of 4 p.m.