Empower U April 8th
Thursday, April 8, 2021
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Doors to EmpowerU Studio Open at 6:30 PM
Anyone who remembers hearing about the Ryan Widmer “bathtub drowning” case—and people who just wonder about what happens behind-the-scenes in any major court case—will find this talk fascinating!
Award-winning author Janice Hisle, who covered all three of Widmer’s trials forThe Cincinnati Enquirer,will reveal unique insights about one of the region’s most-debated murder cases—and will discuss powerful lessons that can be learned from it.
Janice lives near the Warren County, Ohio, neighborhood where 24-year-old Sarah Widmer drowned in her own bathtub back in 2008; Sarah’s husband of four months, Ryan, then 27, was accused of murder. Even after Widmer was convicted in 2011, Janice couldn’t stop thinking about the case. So she combed through more than 10,000 pages of records…and found compelling new information that was never made public during any of Widmer’s trials. This information was released for the first time in Janice’s book,SUBMERGED: Ryan Widmer, his drowned bride and the justice system.
Some people believe that Widmer’s story “just didn’t add up,” and they think he is right where he belongs–behind bars, serving 15-to-life. But many other readers of SUBMERGED wonder whether Sarah Widmer’s death was really a murder at all.
She did suffer from strange bouts of sleepiness and other possible signs of medical disorders that have been linked to unexplained drownings—yet no tests were ever done to rule out those problems, not even during her autopsy. Since then, prosecutors have refused to release Sarah’s DNA for testing; a battle over the DNA and other issues has been pending for more than six years in federal court.
Janice will outline controversies and questions that continue to swirl around this baffling case now, more than a dozen years after a beautiful young woman’s relaxing bath turned tragic—either by murder or by medical misfortune.
Autographed copies of SUBMERGED will be available for $20, cash only, immediately following Janice’s presentation.
Nancy Brunemann, an accountant with Platinum Accounting Services will join us between 7:05-7:20 pm to discuss any last minute tax filing tips. We hear that the Federal Government is going to require us to turn in our tax return for 2020 sometime…. Join Nancy for good and important information you can use.