DAYTON, OH — Dayton police say they have made a major breakthrough in the 2003 homicide of Arlene Hall, arresting a suspect nearly 23 years after she was found dead. The Dayton Police Department’s Homicide and Cold Case Units worked with FBI agents to locate and arrest Jesse James Lockley Jr. on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Investigators say the case moved forward after a review of old evidence led to new DNA testing. Police said that testing produced an unknown male DNA profile on clothing belonging to Hall, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation later identified a match that pointed to Lockley.
Timeline of Hall’s disappearance and death
Police said Hall was last seen alive on March 19, 2003. Eight days later, on March 27, her vehicle was ticketed in downtown Dayton for expired license plates. Her son reported her missing on April 3, 2003.
On April 21, 2003, detectives went to the 2000 block of Germantown Street and found a dead woman in the basement. She was later identified as Hall. Investigators ruled her death a homicide by strangulation, and the case eventually went cold after leads did not produce solid results.
How renewed testing led investigators to Jesse Lockley
According to Dayton police Information Specialist James Rider, cold case investigators reviewed the file in December 2025 and submitted evidence for possible suspect DNA testing. On July 10, 2026, the Ohio BCI crime laboratory told police that an unknown male’s DNA had been found on Hall’s clothing.
Police said the Ohio BCI later found a DNA match in July that fit Jesse James Lockley Jr. That development gave investigators a new path in a case that had remained unsolved for years. The match came after the renewed review of physical evidence already collected in the homicide investigation.
Interview at the safety building ended with an arrest
Dayton police said officers brought Lockley to the safety building on Tuesday for an interview. During that interview, Rider said Lockley made incriminating statements about the 2003 homicide.
After the interview, police arrested Lockley and booked him into the Montgomery County Jail. Charges have been approved for murder. Officials did not release additional details about the statements or say whether more people may be involved in the case.
Police say the case reflects a long-running cold case effort
Chief Eric Henderson said the arrest showed the commitment of the department’s homicide and cold case investigators and the support of outside agencies that helped pursue justice in Hall’s death. He said an arrest cannot erase the pain of losing a loved one, but it may bring some closure to Hall’s family.
Henderson also credited the work of people inside the Dayton Police Department and with other agencies involved in the investigation. The department has not said what additional steps, if any, will follow the arrest, but the murder charge marks the most significant development in the case since Hall was identified in 2003.
What remains known about the 2003 investigation
Hall’s killing was investigated for years after her body was discovered in the basement on Germantown Street, but police said earlier leads did not produce a solid suspect. The renewed DNA work changed that by tying biological evidence to a named individual through state lab testing.
The arrest brings new attention to one of Dayton’s long-running cold cases and shows how modern forensic testing can reopen files that once appeared stalled. Police have not said whether the evidence submitted in 2025 included anything beyond the clothing tested by the Ohio BCI, and they have not announced a court date in the case.
