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Carolyn Washburn is the editor and vice president of The Enquirer. 

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Deb Silverman, reporter for WCPO, writes her story while listening to testimony during the third Ryan Widmer murder trial in Warren County. File photo

The Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter reports that reporter Deb Silverman is leaving Channel 9 — and television.

Silverman, who covered Warren and Butler counties primarily for WCPO-TV, starts Monday in the public relations office at GE Aircraft Engines in Evendale.

Silverman, a Sycamore grad, interned at Channel 9 while attending Ohio University.  After OU, she returned to the station as a field producer until offered an opportunity to spend several months at ABC’s London Bureau.  There, she worked with network correspondents and anchors in London covering Princess Diana’s death.

She then worked as a reporter in Lincoln, Neb., and at Dayton’s WKEF-TV (Channel 22) before coming to Channel 9.

Silverman covered both the high-profile Mason trials of Stacy Schuler, the former high school teacher convicted of having sex with students, and Ryan Widmer, who was convicted in February of murdering his wife, Sarah Widmer, for WCPO.

Here’s a link to her Channel 9 bio.

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Tags: Tags: butler county, channel 9, deb silverman, evendale, ge aircraft engines, reporter, ryan widmer, stacy schuler, television, trials, tv, warren county, wcpo, WCPO-TV

“Dateline NBC” will air a two-hour episode on the Ryan Widmer murder case next week.

The Dateline episode, which includes Widmer’s first public interview since the case began in 2008, will air at 9 p.m. May 6, a spokeswoman confirmed Friday. Widmer turned down several other local media requests to talk to him at Warren Correctional Institution.

Dateline has also interviewed jurors from Widmer’s second trial who think he should have been acquitted, as well as jurors from his third trial.

Widmer, 30, of Mason was convicted Feb. 15 of murder in the 2008 drowning death of his wife, Sarah Widmer.  He stood trial three times – the first two trials ended in mistrial.  He did not take the stand to testify in his own defense in any of the trials.

Meanwhile, the Enquirer’s Janice Morse reports that a legal battle over preservation of evidence continues to rage.

Defense lawyers argue prosecutors are incorrect when they said that Judge Neal Bronson no longer has authority to order that Facebook, YouTube and physical evidence be preserved to possibly assist in Widmer’s appeal of his Feb. 15 murder conviction.

Widmer’s lawyers argue that at least one juror may have violated court rules by researching certain information on the Internet.

Prosecutors presented evidence alleging she was drowned in the couple’s Hamilton Township bathtub but after the guilty verdict, some jurors who convicted Widmer told news reporters they theorized he drowned his wife in the toilet even though no evidence was presented about such a scenario during the third trial.

That theory was briefly mentioned during Widmer’s first trial.

Dateline has covered all three of Widmer’s trials and previously aired an episode on the case in September 2009.  That show was one of its best-watched episodes in 2009, say Dateline officials.

• Read a transcript of Dateline: The Mystery in the Master Bedroom

The national attention drawn by television show attracted responses from hundreds of people from across the nation, including two women who turned into witnesses in Widmer’s third trial earlier this year.

Widmer is serving 15 years to life in prison, the only sentence given for the crime of murder in the state of Ohio.

Posted in: Crime, News, Widmer Trial |

Tags: Tags: appeal, bathtub murder, dateline nbc, facebook, hamilton township, interview, mason, media, murder, mystery in the master bedroom, ryan widmer, sarah widmer, tv

Brant Daugherty quit the Mason High School football team during his sophomore year to try out for the school play.  Now the 2004 Mason grad has made the jump to Hollywood with a significant recurring role on ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars.

Enquirer Media/TV reporter John Kiesewetter recently spoke to Daugherty about his role as Noah Kahn, love interest for Aria (Lucy Hale), one of the four teenage girls whose clique fell apart after the disappearance of their friend Alison.

“We had our first on-screen kiss, then it ended poorly. The second half of this season we explore Noah’s feelings and his situation,” Daugherty told Kiesewetter.  “The show is starting to put my name on the map. It’s going to be a busy couple of months with pilot season.”

Pretty Little Liars is the first big break for Daugherty, 25.  He moved to Los Angeles in 2008, after earning a film degree at Chicago’s Columbia College.  The summer hit, which returned on Monday, is seen in 99 million homes.

Follow Daugherty on Twitter or check out his website at www.brantdaugherty.com.

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Tags: Tags: abc family, actor, aria, brant daugherty, comets, john kiesewetter, lucy hale, mason high school, noah kahn, pretty little liars, television, tv