The Putnam County Sheriff's Office in northwest Ohio says an alert for 14-year-old Blaine Romes, 17-year-old Blake Romes and 17-year-old Michael Fay was issued Thursday morning after a relative of one returned to her Ottawa trailer home and found a crime scene.
Fay was taken into custody Thursday afternoon when he returned to a car parked in a gas station parking lot in Columbus in central Ohio, about 115 miles away. The car had been reported missing from the trailer park. Police said he had stopped at the station at about 5:20 p.m. for directions when confronted by police.
Fay told officers that the Romes brothers were dead and gave the location of the bodies, according to the sheriff's office, which released no details about the condition of the bodies or the scene. Autopsies were scheduled to determine the cause of death.
There was no word on any possible charges against Fay.
Classmates and friends mourned the brothers as news of their death spread Thursday through the village of 4,500 people south of Toledo.
A neighbor, 17-year-old Sam Williams, told The (Toledo) Blade that the younger brother, Blaine, was supposed to join his classmates early Thursday to board a bus for the district's eighth-grade class trip to Washington.
Blake Romes was a junior at Ottawa-Glandorf High School, principal Jayson Selgo said Friday. The school has about 530 students, and word of his death traveled fast in the community.
"He was involved in track and choir at the high school," Selgo said. "He was very well respected and liked by the students and faculty, as well. A very friendly kid."
Selgo said counselors are being made available in the district Friday for students and staff who might need help coping with the news.
"I think everyone is trying to get through this difficult time in their own way," he said.
The school posted a notice on its website Friday saying "our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Blake and Blaine."
Selgo said Fay did not attend the high school.
Williams told the newspaper that Fay lived at the trailer home with the brothers, their mother and Fay's mother.
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Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/
