Miami Valley Murder Mystery: Who Killed Aaliyah Hartman?
A Clark County woman was found by firefighters after a house fire 17 years ago.
Police say someone killed a woman and then set the house on fire to cover up her murder. Now investigators say they are getting closer to finding Aaliyah Hartman's killer.
Aaliyah's mother, Kay Poor, has many things around her house that remind her of her daughter.
“I tried to get pregnant for 13 years,” Poore said. “I’ve never had children, so it was a really special time for me.”
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Hartman died in 2008. She had just filed for divorce from her husband and was living in a house in Sweetbriar Lane South with their young son.
In May of that year, Springfield firefighters discovered Aaliyah's body in her home during a fire. The police were called and determined that someone had killed her and then set her on fire to cover up her death.
The poor man was shocked.
“When they said they were going to remove her body from the house, I said I didn't want to see that, then I went home and spent three days sleeping on the couch,” Poor said.
Detectives have been sifting through the pages of Aaliyah's case file for the past 17 years.
Sergeant James Byron said: “For the sake of the family we would like to make an arrest in this case. We just have to get to the last piece of evidence.”
In May 2025, News Center 7 spoke with Sgt. Bryon about Aaliyah. Her case has reached a dead end. News Center 7's Gabrielle Enright asked, “How many times, do you think you or your detectives have been here for the last 17 years?
Byron replied, “I could say it a hundred times.”
He also said detectives reexamined the evidence last summer. “This new second look has given us some information to further our investigation and we are very close to a suspect in this case,” Byron said.
Enright asked, “Can you discuss the evidence or new developments?” Byron replied: “I'll just say it was a re-examination of the evidence we collected early on.”
The coroner ruled Hartman's death a homicide. Result of blunt trauma.
Police believe people, not technology, will be the key to solving her murder.
“I'd like to think somebody knows something that can help us,” Byron said.
“I mean, she lived next door. You'd think someone would have seen something,” Poor said.
Hartman's mother said she agreed with police. She is convinced that her daughter knew the killer.
“It had to be someone she knew because she had an English mastiff, a big, horsey, gentle, sweet dog, and someone came and let him out of the backyard. He would have killed someone if it was someone he didn't know,” Poore said.
Bad Hopes detectives are really close to finding the man who killed her daughter.
“I would like to see whoever did this punished for this. I mean whoever did this has been walking around for 17 years and I don't think that's fair,” Poore said.
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