WESTERN HILLS PRESS Your Community Press newspaper serving Western Hills, Cheviot, Green Township and other West Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020 | BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
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2020 WOMEN OF THE YEAR
Longtime volunteer supports Freedom Center Jeanne Houck Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Friends say they remember Frank Drees, 37, as a fun-loving guy. Drees died Oct. 12, 2001, after being fatally shot in the head. His slaying remains unsolved. PROVIDED
Vickie Waters, 42, had four children and a granddaughter when she was fatally shot Oct. 12, 2001. Nineteen years later, her slaying remains unsolved. PROVIDED
2001 shootings of Frank Drees, Vickie Waters unsolved Amber Hunt Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
For the families of victims killed in unsolved murders, life has been at a standstill for a long time, even before the pandemic arrived. The Enquirer is highlighting a series of cold cases, summarized and analyzed by the journalists whose careers largely focus on unsolved murders: the creators of Cincinnati. com’s Accused podcast. If you have any information on any unsolved case, please reach out to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Suggestions for cases to highlight can be sent to accused@enquirer.com. The crime: Frank Drees and his girlfriend, Vickie Waters, had been hanging out at a bar Oct. 12, 2001, when they asked a friend for a ride home. The friend said sure and stopped by the restroom before heading out, but when she came back, Drees and Waters were gone. Soon after, the two were found dead on the front porch of their Cincinnati home. Nineteen years later, the double homicide is still unsolved. The victims: Drees, 37, moved to the United States with his German-born mother when he was just a baby. His mother, Kitty, said the fi rst years of her son’s life were tough in part because he was an exceptionally energetic child. Having moved to another country with Drees’ father, an Air Force man she’d met overseas, Kitty Drees didn’t know anyone close. Soon, she had a second son and often raised her two boys alone while their father was stationed elsewhere. “His teachers would tell me he was very intelligent but at the time I didn’t know what to do with all his extra energy,” Kitty Drees said. “In those days, you didn’t have the resources that they have for kids with problems like that.” Her son began self-medicating with illegal drugs and had run-ins with police, she said, but he was also kind and quick to laugh. “Deep down, I think Frank just wanted to be accepted,” Kitty Drees said. “He was a good person deep down. He would never hurt anybody, didn’t have a temper.” Waters, 42, was born in Cincinnati but, thanks to a dad in the military, moved around a lot, attending schools in Japan, Hawaii, California and Oregon. While in Cincinnati, she’d attended Western Hills High School. She had four children and a baby granddaughter. The guilt: Kitty Drees knows she’s not responsible for her son’s death – that burden is on whoever shot him in the head at close range – but she plays his childhood over and over in her mind. “Frank, as a person, is where my guilt comes in,” she said. “I’d give anything if I could raise him over again. Maybe he’d turn out diff erent.” It’s a sentiment we’ve heard from other parents whose
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sons were higher-risk victims but who, nevertheless, didn’t deserve to have their lives cut short at someone else’s whim. Their parents wonder: If I’d raised him diff erently, maybe he wouldn’t have used drugs or run with the wrong crowd. Maybe he’d still be here today. Or as Kitty Drees said: “I wish now I’d have worried less about cleaning my house and spent more time with Frank and trying to channel his energy and his smarts. I live with all that guilt.” The ride home: Just before Drees and Waters died, one of their friends had off ered the couple a ride home from a bar about a mile away from Drees’ apartment, which was on the third fl oor of a house at 1278 Quebec Road. While the friend said Drees and Waters disappeared before she could follow through on the ride off er, Kitty Drees feels certain the couple got a ride from someone else. “I don’t think he walked home,” she said. “It was raining very hard and when they found him on the front porch, his clothes were dry.” Drees died instantly from his gunshot wound.. Still alive when medics responded, Walters died later at a hospital. Not giving up: In recent weeks, Drees’ and Waters’ slayings have drawn renewed interest, sparking a story at Enquirer reporting partner Fox19 and prompting friends and family to start hanging new fl yers in hopes of drumming up tips. Loved ones have also created a Facebook page where they coordinate volunteer eff orts and chronicle their eff orts to revive the case. Got tips? People with information can call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040. Accused, reported by Enquirer journalists Amber Hunt and Amanda Rossmann, is an award-winning podcast investigating cold cases with three seasons available on all mainstream platforms such as Apple Podcasts and also at www.accusedpodcast.com.
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Helen O’Neal is a longtime volunteer in the community, giving her time in support of museums and college scholarships for children of modest means. But O’Neal’s work as co-founder of the Ambassadors of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Downtown Cincinnati has a special place in her heart. In 2008, O’Neal and a friend founded the Ambassadors, who work to raise interest in and donations for the center at 50 E. Freedom Way. They started with 16 O'Neal community-oriented Black women. Membership was broadened to include men and people of diff erent backgrounds and as of September, it was up to 46. “I’m proud that our membership has grown in size and its loyalty has been sustained over the years since its founding,” O’Neal said. “This growth in our membership, nearly tripling, refl ects our success in attracting additional supporters to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.” And that’s important, O’Neal said. “The Freedom Center provides historical perspective to learn from the past, be inspired by it and apply it to our lives,” O’Neal said. “It is important to support the Freedom Center as it brings forward that information in creative and accessible ways.” O’Neal said some of the most moving experiences she has had at the Freedom Center were celebrations of the Freedom Conductor awards, which are given to people who have made notable national and international contributions. “Of particular note was the induction of our friend, Judge Nathaniel Jones, who was a loyal supporter of the Freedom Center,” O’Neal said.
‘Warm and caring human being’ O’Neal said her other volunteer work primarily has been in museums and with the Woman’s City Club of Greater Cincinnati. O’Neal served as president of the Donald P. Sowell Endowment Committee at the Cincinnati Art Museum and was a docent and board member of the Contemporary Arts Center. O’Neal also is a member of the Advocates for Youth Education, Inc., a group of women who have for 32 years pooled their personal funds to provide college scholarships to talented, needy children in the Cincinnati area. O’Neal is retired after years of school social work. After moving to the Cincinnati area in 1999, O’Neal was employed by the Hamilton County Family and Children First program as a school resource coordinator. “My job was to assess the needs of the school (outside academics) and to bring in community resources to address those needs,” O’Neal said. “For example, in my work at Vine Elementary and Rees E. Price Academy, we addressed the need for more parental inSee O’NEAL, Page 2A
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