Ohio – A two-time convicted sex offender has died in prison by his cellmate a convicted Murder who admits to killing the man in cold blood.
Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell announced that Jedidiah Hayes Lang, 43, of Youngstown, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Cody Bartimus at the Warren Correctional Institution (WCI) in Turtlecreek Township. Lang was sentenced by Judge Donald E. Oda II to 15 years to life in prison, a sentence that will run consecutively with his existing murder conviction.
The incident occurred on October 26, 2023, when WCI staff discovered Bartimus unresponsive in his cell during routine checks. Despite efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead at Atrium Medical Center. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office later determined that Bartimus died from strangulation.
Following the discovery, investigators from the Ohio State Highway Patrol began looking into the circumstances surrounding Bartimus’s death. Lang, who was removed from his cell and held in a medical unit, admitted to using a towel to strangle Bartimus during a five-minute struggle. He reportedly expressed a chilling awareness of Bartimus’s death, stating he had “done this before.”
At the time of this incident, Lang was already serving a sentence of 15 years to life for a previous murder conviction from 2013 in Knox County.
Cody Bartimus had prior convictions for importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, while on parole for those charges in 2017 he was charged with abduction and other charges when he attempted to remove a young child from a car seat in Newark saying that, “he loved her.” In 2014, Bartimus was arrested after communicating with a 13-year-old girl online and trying to arrange to meet her. He was ultimately sentenced to 18 months in prison and is a registered sex offender.
Prosecutor Fornshell commended the efforts of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and his office staff for their work on the case, which has now concluded with Lang’s sentencing.
