By Jim Hannah, jhannah@enquirer.com
and Randy Tucker, rtucker@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        GREEN TWP. — Hamilton County sheriff's deputies identified a body found Tuesday in the basement of a Colerain Avenue office as the man wanted in a gunpoint abduction at Florence Mall, the sexual assault of three girls and an attempted abduction in Green Township.

        Police believe Michael D. Hensley, 47, took his own life, shooting himself in the head with a .25-caliber pistol.

Hensley

        Mr. Hensley had been on the run since Friday when he failed to appear in a Clermont County court on drug charges. He later told relatives he would not be taken alive.

        Deputies moved quickly Tuesday to identify the body, announcing it was probably Mr. Hensley before they had a confirmed ID. “We're doing this (identifying the body) in the interest of public safety,” said Steve Barnett, a sheriff's office spokesman. “Hopefully this will relieve citizens that may be frightened.”

        The body, with the scars and tattoos that had been mentioned in a police description of Mr. Hensley, was found in the basement of Dr. Ravi B. Berry's office at 6200 Colerain Ave. with a gunshot wound to the head.

        A .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol was found next to the body, Mr. Barnett said.

        Police said Mr. Hensley apparently broke into a basement window unbeknown to Dr. Berry, a psychiatrist, who visits the office about once a week for appointments.

        When Dr. Berry arrived Tuesday for the first time since July 9, there was an odor coming from the basement, authorities said. When he checked, he discovered the body and called the sheriff's office about 3:45 p.m., Mr. Barnett said.

Workers remove the body from the office of Dr. Ravi B. Berry (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Dr. Berry, who according to police did not know Mr. Hensley, declined comment.

        Mr. Hensley was to appear in court on Friday to be sentenced on drug charges in connection with the manufacture of methamphetamine.

        When he failed to appear, the judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

        Later that day, police say, Mr. Hensley used a handgun to abduct two teenage girls from a Florence Mall parking lot.

        Police said Mr. Hensley forced the girls to drive him to a friend's home in Union, about five miles away. Once there, police said, Mr. Hensley sexually assaulted and robbed all three girls.

        He then fled, officials said, driving a white van and eluding authorities, who issued bulletins on him throughout the Tristate.

        By Saturday, Mr. Hensley had moved north, where police say he kidnapped a woman sitting in her car in a Green Township grocery store parking lot.

        The woman escaped , rolling out of the car as Mr. Hensley drove off, they said.

        Police said they recovered the car a short time later, but Mr. Hensley again managed to slip away.

        Officials said the crimes appeared random and that Mr. Hensley didn't know the people he was accused of kidnapping.

        Maj. Jack Banks of the Boone County Sheriff's Department, who was investigating the Florence kidnapping and assault, had described Mr. Hensley as armed and extremely dangerous.

        The FBI, Boone County Sheriff's Department, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and Green Township police cooperated Tuesday to track Mr. Hensley, whose addresses included Winchester and Blanchester.

        Mr. Hensley's family pleaded earlier Tuesday for him to turn himself in.

        “I want him to know that I do love him,” said Mr. Hensley's youngest sister, Leslie Bolyard, 43, of West Liberty, Ky. “I don't agree with what he did. What he did was definitely wrong, But I love him, my family loves him and my kids love him.”

        Ms. Bolyard, who has four children ages 12 to 25, said she hadn't heard from her brother “for a long time.”

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