NAPOLEON, Ohio (WOWO) — The man accused of setting a 1992 hotel fire in Napoleon that killed three people has died in custody, bringing a decades-old murder investigation to an end without a trial.
William Mohr, 64, of Edwardsville, Illinois, died Saturday, August 8, from natural causes at St. Vincent Hospital, according to the Henry County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mohr was the only suspect in the case and had been awaiting trial on six felony counts connected to the January 21, 1992, fire at the Wellington Hotel on North Perry Street in Napoleon.
With Mohr’s death, authorities consider the case closed according to WTOL.
The fire killed three Napoleon residents: 6-year-old Roger Butts, 28-year-old Kevin Brown and 20-year-old Richard Rhoads.
The Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office determined the fire had been intentionally set.
The case had remained unresolved for more than three decades before Napoleon police and the Henry County Prosecutor’s Office reopened the investigation in January 2026.
Investigators began digitizing preserved evidence and reviewing information collected during the original investigation. That renewed examination ultimately led a Henry County grand jury to indict Mohr in March on three counts of aggravated murder and three counts of murder.
Mohr had been identified as a suspect during the original investigation in the early 1990s. He was initially charged in 1992, but those charges were dismissed in 1993.
According to earlier reporting, prosecutors at the time sought dismissal after evidence emerged supporting Mohr’s alibi. Mohr had maintained that he was with his wife at the time of the fire.
The case remained dormant for decades before investigators took another look at the evidence this year.
The renewed investigation resulted in Mohr’s arrest in Illinois and his return to Ohio to face the charges.
Mohr pleaded not guilty during an April arraignment in Henry County Common Pleas Court. A $3 million cash bond was set, and a trial had been scheduled for June.
The case never reached a jury.
The deaths at the Wellington Hotel occurred late on January 21, 1992, when a major fire swept through the building at 801 North Perry Street.
The three victims were all Napoleon residents, and the death of 6-year-old Roger Butts made the fire particularly devastating for the community.
Investigators determined the blaze was arson, but the case remained unresolved even after Mohr was initially accused.
The investigation’s revival in 2026 demonstrated how preserved evidence and advances in evidence review can allow authorities to revisit cold cases decades after the original crime.
Napoleon police and the Henry County Prosecutor’s Office said in announcing the renewed investigation that preserved evidence was being digitized and reevaluated as part of the effort to determine whether the case could still be successfully prosecuted.
That work led to the indictment more than 34 years after the fire.
Mohr’s death means there will be no criminal trial and no verdict determining his guilt or innocence.
The original charges against him were allegations, and he remained legally presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The Henry County Prosecutor’s Office said Mohr died from natural causes while in custody.
The case now closes with the deaths of the three victims still marking one of the most significant unsolved tragedies in Napoleon’s history, while the investigation itself becomes another example of a decades-old case being reopened after authorities returned to evidence collected long ago.
