A Columbus man convicted of beating a woman to death before dismembering her body inside a garage continued to deny his involvement as a judge sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch sentenced Eric Ward, 36, on Aug. 6 to life in prison without the opportunity for parole plus an additional 74 to 79½ years in prison in the Sept. 29, 2021, death of 32-year-old Allyson Lorenz.
Members of a Franklin County Sheriff's office SWAT team found Lorenz's remains on that day inside garbage bags in the garage of her Alkire Park condominium in the 1800 block of Bashan Drive on Columbus' Far West Side. The SWAT team had gone to the home to execute a warrant connected to Ward's trafficking of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone.
Testimony and evidence at Ward's trial showed he had beaten Lorenz and another woman after becoming angry with them, including using boxing gloves. Lorenz's autopsy showed she had several broken ribs and blunt force injuries over much of her body.
Video from a home improvement store showed Ward and the other woman, who testified against Ward at his trial, buying an axe and gardening shears, as well as a white Tyvex-like suit and other items that investigators said they later determined were used in dismembering Lorenz's body.
According to testimony at the trial, the Tyvex suit had Lorenz's DNA on the outside and Ward's DNA on the inside.
The jury took less than two hours on Aug. 4 to convict Ward of all 18 charges filed against him. Seven of those charges stemmed from Lorenz's death, including aggravated murder, two counts of murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. Three charges related to Ward's possession of firearms after a prior felony conviction, and eight charges were for Ward's drug activities, which he openly admitted to during his testimony at his trial.
Before he was sentenced, Ward reiterated what he said in his testimony, denying involvement in Lorenz's death.
"I did not kill Allyson Lorenz," Ward said. "I don't think the cops looked into this case like they were supposed to."
Ward also asked for his phone privileges to be reinstated while he was in custody. Lynch had revoked those privileges after a mistrial was declared in Ward's first trial, which began on July 14. The mistrial was declared after someone approached a member of that jury and made comments about the case.
One of Lorenz's cousins spoke before Lynch sentenced Ward, saying Lorenz didn't get the justice she deserved the first time Ward was convicted of beating her in 2018.
Lorenz's father, who gave a statement read by a friend on his behalf, said Ward's actions not only took away his daughter but also destroyed him.
"Was Ally perfect? Not by any means, but she was my daughter, and I loved her more than anything," he said. "There are times when my phone rings and I think it's Ally. I'll see a strawberry blonde girl playing, and it brings tears to my eyes because it reminds me of her."
Both of Lorenz's family members requested that Lynch impose the maximum possible penalty she could against Ward, which included a life without parole sentence.
"If it is possible, throw him into a dungeon and throw away the key. Someone who did what he did to my daughter should never see the light of day again," Lorenz's father said in his statement.
In imposing her sentence, Lynch called Ward a "poison dealer" and said she did not believe there was any place in society for someone like Ward, who was incapable of following the law.
"That night you used Allyson Lorenz as your punching bag," Lynch said. "Whatever is in your heart, it's dark. I've been on this bench a long time, I've seen a lot of things, and I've got to say I've never seen anything like this."
Lynch also denied a motion filed by Ward's attorneys to allow him to have a bond amount set while he appeals his conviction.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at [email protected] or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio drug dealer sentenced for beating, dismembering woman
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