CrossFit community still searching for answers - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

CrossFit community still searching for answers

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Toledo's Intensity Fitness is open again, it closed the day 57-year-old Joe Lengel was murdered.  Some of his long standing members oversee now the gym...a move they know Joe would have appreciated.

"It's still going to be hard for people to get over what happened here, but we're all trying our hardest," says Jake Grolle, who trained under Lengel.

The news of arrests spread quickly through the local CrossFit community on Thursday.  Jason Kuhns, Devonte Harris, and Deitrekk Boone have all been charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.  Matthew Managhan and Chad Brown are only charged with aggravated robbery. Police were still searching for Boone as of Thursday night.

So many unanswered questions still surround Joe's death, and those who love him say they want justice.

"It still feels like there's a hole in the community, that we lost a part of the community," says Abbey Mortemore, owner of Black Swamp CrossFit in Sylvania.

"None of it really makes sense," says another of Joe's friends, Mike Nichols. "Until it does make sense, and we figure out why someone would do something like that, then maybe things will start to feel like there's closure."

Police believe Lengel was an innocent victim of a robbery gone wrong, but the investigation isn't over.  Even with some suspects behind bars, there's still the question of why someone would commit such a terrible crime.

"Although there's news today that they'd caught some people, it's still odd and doesn't make a lot of sense," Mortemore tells 13abc.

Anyone with information about the location of the fifth suspect, Deitrekk Boone, is asked to call the Toledo Crimestopper Line at 419-255-1111.

 

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