Staff Report

PORTSMOUTH— Authorities in Scioto County said Tuesday a man already in jail on other charges has confessed to the murders of two women there.

Darryl Walters, 44, of Sciotoville,

was in jail in Indiana on a drunken driving conviction when authorities in Scioto County received word from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification that DNA evidence collected from the crime scene tied Walters to the death of Aleshia Frazee, 19, of Portsmouth, whose body was dumped alongside Old Gallia Pike Road in Franklin Furnace in October 2001.

Earlier this month, detectives from Scioto County and authorities from Adams County went to Indiana to talk to Walters, who initially denied involvement in the Frazee murder, but did confess to the murder of Melinda Powell, whose body was found in Adams County in July 2004.

Walters was returned to Adams County Feb. 14 and lodged in the jail there. Scioto authorities spoke with him a second time and at that time he confessed to killing Frazee and another woman, Tamara Smith, whose body was found in Portsmouth.

Walters remains in the Adams County Jail.