Case Files: The murder of Dawn Glanz

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - If you walk into the dispatch hall of the Bowling Green Police Department, you can’t help but notice the poster asking for any information about the murder of Dawn Glanz.

The 66-year old was found murdered in her Kensington Blvd. home on May 9th of 2013. Police say Dawn’s body was found in her bathroom with her head in a pool of blood.

Rescue crews were called to the home when her husband Robert Brown called 911. Bowling Green Police Lt. Adam Skaff says “He believed that she had just fallen, and had some sort of heart attack or stroke.”

At that time Dawn’s death was treated as due to natural causes. Investigators say there was no forced entry into the house and nothing was stolen. No reason to suspect foul play. But just hours before her body was to be cremated at the funeral home, Dawn’s long-time friend Tyne Hyslop made a call to the BG Police Chief at the time.

“I said you really need to look at her death,” recalls Hyslop. “And fortunately, he did an autopsy and he called back and said ‘yes, Tyne she was murdered.’”

The coroner’s report revealed that dawn had been stabbed in the back of her head and the wound led to a fatal heart attack. “They believe a device maybe like a screwdriver or an ice pick was responsible for the wound to the back of her head,” says Lt. Skaff.

Tyne Hyslop had been friends with Dawn for 33 years and was also her financial advisor. She says Dawn was a respected and popular professor at Bowling Green State University.

“Dawn was just really vivacious. She was very outgoing. She was just an incredibly nice warm person,” she says. “There was a financial motive. Someone had something to gain significantly financially from her death.” Hyslop says that person was Dawn’s husband, Robert Brown -- to the tune of one to $2 million dollars, according to Hyslop and police.

Police have not named Brown as a suspect, nor has he been charged in connection with her death. “Everything has been presented to the prosecutor’s office and at this point, I think they’re just looking for more than circumstantial evidence,” says Lt. Skaff. “It’s going to take someone coming forth with information. They maybe spoke to someone involved in it. Or maybe didn’t think at the time something was relevant but it is.”

13abc attempted to speak with Robert Brown in September of 2019 to ask him about his wife’s case and he declined.

If you have any information about this case, contact the Bowling Green Police Department at 419-352-2571 or if you have an unsolved case that you would like the I-Team to feature, you can send an email to ITEAM@13abc.com.

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