GRAND JURY INDICTMENT: Hillsboro Man Formally Charged with Murder in Fatal Gas Station Attack
HILLSBORO, Ohio — A Highland County grand jury has handed down a heavy seven-count indictment against Javen Austin Meadows, officially upgrading his charges to murder following a fatal May parking lot confrontation.
Meadows, 23, of Hillsboro, faces multiple felony charges for the May 31 incident on South High Street that resulted in the death of a 49-year-old Good Samaritan who tried to stop a domestic assault.
The Upgraded Charges
According to court records and the indictment returned on Tuesday, July 7, Meadows has been formally charged with:
- Two counts of Murder (Unclassified Felonies)
- One count of Attempted Murder (First-Degree Felony)
- Two counts of Felonious Assault (Second-Degree Felonies)
- One count of Strangulation (Fourth-Degree Felony)
- A Forfeiture Specification for his vehicle
Prosecutors indicted Meadows under two separate murder statutes. The first count alleges he purposely caused the victim’s death, while the second count alleges he knowingly caused the death as a direct result of committing or attempting to commit felonious assault.
The Fatal Confrontation
The charges stem from a violent chain of events that began just after 2:30 a.m. on May 31. Investigators state that Meadows drove his Ford F-150 into a South High Street business parking lot and rammed another truck before parking.
Meadows then allegedly exited his truck, went over to the vehicle he had just hit, grabbed a female victim by the neck, and threw her to the ground. He is further accused of using strangulation or suffocation against her, as well as attempting to strike her and a third victim with his pickup truck.
When a 49-year-old bystander stepped in to intervene and stop the assault, Meadows allegedly ran the man over with his Ford F-150 as he fled the scene, inflicting fatal injuries. Because the truck was allegedly used as a deadly weapon during the crimes, it is now subject to state forfeiture.
Additional Highland County Indictments
The grand jury also returned indictments in several other unrelated cases during the Tuesday session:
- Pandering Obscenity: Levi Dean Moberly, 25, was hit with five second-degree felony counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor for allegedly promoting, advertising, or disseminating obscene materials between October 2025 and January 2026.
- High-Speed Eluding: Dwight B. Hickel, 35, of Chillicothe, and Austin Thomas McIntyre, 23, of Peebles, were both charged in separate incidents with third-degree felony failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer for willfully fleeing from law enforcement in their vehicles. McIntyre’s chase allegedly began in Highland County and crossed into Brown County.
- Elderly Credit Card Fraud: Denver L. Melampy, 46, of Wilmington, was charged with misuse of a credit card and receiving stolen property. Melampy is accused of illegally using a stolen credit card belonging to an elderly victim over a multi-month period.
- Drug Possession: McKenzie A. Cowman, 33, of Hillsboro; Donald E. Johnson, 51, of Mount Sterling; and Johnny Wright Jr., 53, of Hillsboro, were all individually indicted on fifth-degree felony charges of aggravated possession of methamphetamine.
An indictment is merely a charge and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
