10/15/2026
🚨 MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING OHIO DOLLAR TREE CASHIER WITH MACHETE FOUND INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL
📍 Upper Sandusky, Ohio — Wyandot County
October 2026 Update
More than three years after a 22-year-old Dollar Tree employee was brutally killed while working, the criminal case against the accused man remains unresolved.
On January 1, 2023, Keris Riebel, 22, was working at a Dollar Tree in Upper Sandusky when authorities say Bethel Bekele, then 27, entered the store carrying a machete.
Police allege Bekele approached Riebel and struck her multiple times with the weapon. She died at the scene.
Bekele was subsequently arrested and charged with murder.
⚖️ NEW COURT DEVELOPMENT:
According to WTOL, Bekele has been found incompetent to stand trial in the criminal case.
Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit connected to the fatal attack is moving toward a trial in 2027.
A finding of incompetency to stand trial does not mean a defendant has been found innocent or not guilty. It concerns whether the defendant is currently capable of understanding the proceedings and assisting in their defense.
💔 Keris was just 22 years old when her life was taken.
What are your thoughts on this case still being unresolved nearly four years later?
