Ohio inmate who killed 4, Lawrence Michael Hensley, accused of Toledo prison killing

TOLEDO, Ohio - An inmate serving a life sentence for killing three teenage girls and a Bible studies teacher in western Ohio nearly 14 years ago is now accused of strangling a fellow inmate at a Toledo prison.

A grand jury on Monday indicted Lawrence Michael Hensley, 43, in the death of Bradley Hamlin, who was found unresponsive in Hensley's cell in September and died two days later.

Investigators believe three inmates were in or near the cell when Hamlin, 24, was assaulted, but only Hensley has been indicted, said Rob Miller, an assistant prosecutor in Lucas County.

An autopsy indicated that Hamlin, who was serving five years for burglary, breaking and entering, and theft in Portage and Cuyahoga counties, had been restrained.

"There was a previous disagreement between the victim and one or more inmates," Miller told The Blade.

Hensley does not yet have an attorney. He has been moved from Toledo Correctional Institution to the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville

Hensley was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 after admitting in a deal to avoid the death penalty that he killed four people in Shelby County, 40 miles north of Dayton.

He admitted he killed his neighbor Sherry Kimbler, 16, her cousin Tosha Barrett, 16, and their friend Amy Mikesell, 14, in July 1999 at his house. The girls' bodies were found after a woman who had been shot and wounded escaped from the house. Hensley then drove to the house of Bible teacher Brett Wildermuth, 37, and shot him in the back.

He surrendered a few days later after taking three hostages at a gas station.

His former attorney said Hensley had studied Satanism and practiced rituals and that he had a sexual addiction. Hensley told family, friends and co-workers he was in a devil-worshipping cult and had sexual compulsions.

Shelby County Prosecutor Tim Sell, who was not in office at that time, said it was one of the worst killings in the county's history. "He killed these three young girls, then killed another gentleman, then shot his way down the highway," Sell said.