Lindsay Bogan, 30, of Middletown was reported missing in September 2015. Her remains were found on a farm in Madison Township, Butler County, in July 2016. Police say she was killed in the basement of a house on Woodlawn Avenue and moved. No one has been charged with her death.
Police named her boyfriend at the time and members of his family as persons of interest, and he has denied involvement. He later pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution. Searches and electronic devices produced what police called new evidence in 2017, but we found no murder charge.
Editorial assessment of public sources, not a finding of fact. Nobody named here has been charged unless this page says so.
Details come from 2016 and 2017 reports by FOX19, WCPO and the Journal-News. We found nothing after 2017.
Bogan's boyfriend reports her missing. He says he last saw her getting into a silver SUV in downtown Middletown.
He is charged with promoting prostitution in connection with the case. He later pleads guilty and serves nine months.
Remains found on a Madison Township farm are identified as Bogan through dental records. The Butler County Coroner has not determined how she died.
Middletown police treat the death as a homicide. A police lieutenant says they believe she was killed in the basement of 1504 Woodlawn Avenue and moved to the farm.
Police search the Woodlawn Avenue home after a suspicious fire. Two people are arrested on obstruction charges, not for the killing.
FOX19 reports police recovered electronic devices and are preparing a search warrant. Police say the new evidence could lead to an arrest.
A 30-year-old mother from Middletown.
A Middletown mother. She was reported missing in September 2015. Police believe she was killed that month.
We found no freely licensed photo, so a silhouette is shown. Family members or others who want a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
What exists, and what each piece may or may not mean.
| Item | What is known | Disputed or unknown |
|---|---|---|
| The remains | Found on a Madison Township farm in July 2016 and identified by dental records. | Cause of death: the coroner had not determined it in the reports we read. |
| The Woodlawn Avenue house | Police believe she was killed in the basement. | Forensic findings from the basement: not public. |
| A suspicious fire | A fire at a home that police searched. | Whether it is connected: not stated. |
| Electronic devices | Recovered in 2017; a search warrant was being prepared. | Results: not public. |
| Other missing women | Three other women are missing. Police said one disappearance may be connected. | No public evidence of a link. |
Local reports from 2015 to 2017 are the public record.
| Document | Holder | What it shows | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOX19: Police find new evidence | FOX19 / WXIX | Devices and persons of interest. | Online, free |
| Court records for the promoting-prostitution case | Butler County Common Pleas or Middletown Municipal Court | The plea and sentence. | Request needed |
| Middletown Police case file; coroner report | Middletown Police; Butler County Coroner | The investigation. | Withheld or sealed |
Access labels: Online, free = we could open it. Fan-hosted copy = a private researcher posted scans; originals are held by the named agency, and we cannot vouch for completeness. Quoted in news = reporters read it; we did not see the document itself. Request needed = held by an agency or court. Withheld = the holder has not released it. We cannot reach non-public records, and we do not try to.
Where people talk about this case online, and how to read it.
| Platform | Live search | What you tend to find |
|---|---|---|
| Google: Reddit | site:reddit.com search | Public Reddit threads that Google has indexed, including old discussions. |
| Google: X and Twitter | X and Twitter posts | Public posts and profiles that appear in search results. |
| Google: Facebook | Public Facebook pages and posts | Only public pages and groups that Google can see. Private groups never appear. |
| Google: Instagram and TikTok | Instagram and TikTok | Public posts, memorials, and videos. |
| Google: forums | Forums and message boards | Long-running true-crime forums. |
| Google News | Latest news | Newest reporting, which is usually more reliable than posts. |
| Search Reddit | Long discussion threads and theories, often by amateur researchers. No sign-in needed to read. | |
| X (Twitter) | Search X | Short posts, news links, and anniversary notes. May require sign-in. |
| Search Facebook | Public groups and family or community pages. Requires sign-in. | |
| Search #lindsaybogan | Memorial and true-crime posts. Requires sign-in. | |
| YouTube | Search YouTube | Documentaries, news clips, and interviews. Quality varies widely. |
Be careful with online theories. Naming a private person as a suspect can harm an innocent family, and many "identifications" on forums have been wrong. Our own tools could not read these platforms: Reddit blocks automated access, and the others require an account. The Google searches above work from your browser. To get new public mentions by email, make a free Google Alert for the case name in quotation marks.
What local and national reports say, and when we last checked for a solution.
| Date | Outlet | What it reported | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | |||
| WCPO; Journal-News | |||
| Remains identified; police believe she was killed in a basement. | |||
| Read | |||
| 2017 | |||
| FOX19 / WXIX | |||
| Police recover devices; new evidence could lead to an arrest. | |||
| Read |
Status is re-checked on a regular schedule. If you know of a development we missed, use the clue form near the top of this page or the contact form, and include a link.
Police have named persons of interest. No one is charged with her death.
Why named: He reported her missing. A police lieutenant called him a main target from the start. Police named him and family members as persons of interest.
Against: He denies involvement. He was charged and convicted of promoting prostitution only. No charge for her death.
Why named: Police listed relatives as persons of interest and searched the Woodlawn Avenue home.
Against: Two people were arrested on obstruction charges, not for the killing.
Why named: Police say many people were less than truthful and some have not come forward.
Against: No names or charges.
Where a card shows a silhouette, we found no photo. Anyone who wants a photo added, changed, or removed can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.
The last public development was a search warrant for electronic devices.
We put the chance that the killer was someone she knew at roughly 85%, because police say she was killed in a home and moved. We put the chance of a charge within five years at roughly 25%, because police said the evidence was promising and the case is not old.
Editorial judgment, not statistics.
"—" means no public information, not a clean result.
| Person or idea | Link to the scene | Legal outcome | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyfriend at the time (unnamed) | ✓ lived with her | ? only a prostitution plea | ? denies involvement |
| Members of his family (unnamed) | ? persons of interest | ? obstruction arrests only | — none public |
| Unknown others | ? police say people held back | — | — |
✗ excluded or contradicted · ✓ supports · ? disputed · — nothing public. No cell is an official finding.
Editorial reading of public records. A working theory, not a finding, and it names no individual.
Judgment, not statistics.
Questions raised by gaps in the public record.
What the devices showed and whose they were.
Whether the coroner ruled on it after 2016.
Forensic findings and whether chemicals or cleaning were used.
The silver SUV and how her body reached the farm.
Whether the disappearance police mentioned is linked.
Who had access to the field where she was found.
"Not public" means we could not find a report.
| Item | Tested | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Coroner's cause of death | Remains identified in 2016. | Ruling: not public in the reports we read. |
| Basement evidence | House searched. | Results: not public. |
| Devices | Recovered in 2017. | Results: not public. |
| Police file | Held by Middletown Police. | Public index: not available. |
| Tool | What it could do | Status here |
|---|---|---|
| DNA from retained evidence | Identify a donor or exclude people. | Unknown; not reported |
| Forensic genetic genealogy | Identify an unknown donor from relatives. | Needs usable DNA; none reported |
| Ballistics database (NIBIN) | Link recovered casings or bullets to other crimes. | Not reported |
Local cases that moved after decades.
Investigators say a private genealogy investigation helped them identify Thomas Dunaway, who died in 1990, as the man who killed the 16-year-old. He cannot be indicted, so prosecutors sent a letter saying he would have been charged. The lesson: genealogy can name a killer after decades, even when no trial is possible.
In 2024, local investigators were being trained in the technique, which has already helped solve Cincinnati-area cases, according to FOX19. The lesson: the tool is now local, so cases with usable DNA have a real path forward.
Old crime-scene DNA matched relatives in a public database and led to a 2018 arrest. The lesson: a usable sample can still work after decades.
Case details come from public news coverage and the Boone County Sheriff's cold-case list. Confirm in court records.
| Claim | Source and date | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| Bones in a prior find are hers | WCPO, 2015 | A skeletal find earlier was not hers. |
| The boyfriend killed her | Online speculation | He denies it and has not been charged with her death. |
| Her case is linked to other missing women | Police comment | Police said it may be connected for one woman. No evidence is public. |
She lived in Middletown. Police believe she was killed in a house on Woodlawn Avenue. Her remains were found on a farm in Madison Township, Butler County.
Open in maps: Woodlawn Avenue, Middletown. We show no photograph of the scene.
| Source | Type | Rating | Use with care because |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOX19 / WXIX, 2017 | Local news | B+ | Reports police statements and the devices. |
| WCPO and Journal-News, 2015 to 2017 | Local news | B+ | Seen in search results with summaries; not all opened. |
| Social media discussion | User posts | D | Rumors about named people. We did not use it. |
Lead agency. Middletown police took the lead in 2016.
Remains recovery and cause-of-death records.
Charging decisions.
Under the Ohio Public Records Act, I request copies of non-exempt records relating to the 2015 homicide of Lindsay Bogan, with remains found in Madison Township in July 2016, including incident reports, laboratory reports, and any evidence inventory. Please send electronic copies. If any part is withheld, please identify the exemption relied on and release all reasonably segregable material.
Agencies often withhold records of open investigations, so expect partial answers.
Lindsay was 30 and a mother. Her family has welcomed the investigation's progress.
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Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where they disagree, we say so above.
The persons of interest are named in the cited reports but we do not name them. The year of the FOX19 report and the prostitution plea are not stated in the copies we read; we date them "2017" and "after 2016" on inference. The coroner's cause of death was not found. We found no report of a murder charge.