A Beavercreek Township man was sentenced to four years in prison this week after a jury found he strangled his intimate partner unconscious, ripped clumps of hair from her scalp, and beat her with closed fists and household objects during a 30-minute assault inside their apartment. Dennis Gill, 39, was convicted on Wednesday of strangulation, domestic violence, and endangering children, though he was acquitted of a second domestic violence count. A judge imposed the maximum sentence permitted by law.
The attack happened on June 5 inside an apartment in Beavercreek Township, according to WKEF. The victim, who is the mother of Gill's 2-year-old child, escaped the apartment and was found by a neighbor hiding in bushes and yelling for help. That neighbor stayed with her until law enforcement arrived and called 911, the station reports. She was taken to a local hospital following the assault.
Gill fled the scene but was later found by Kettering Police Department officers. The Greene County Sheriff's Office investigated the case, with a designated domestic violence investigator conducting what the station described as an extensive investigation. During the attack, Gill reportedly struck the victim with a speaker and children's toys in addition to strangling and punching her.
A Two-Day Trial and a Maximum Sentence
The jury trial lasted two days before Gill was convicted on the strangulation, domestic violence, and child endangerment counts. The case was prosecuted by the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and the sentencing judge handed down the four-year maximum term allowed under the law, per the same report from WKEF.
Gill's conviction falls under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.18, the state's felony strangulation statute created by Ohio Senate Bill 288, which took effect in April 2023. The law made Ohio the last state in the nation to elevate non-fatal strangulation from a misdemeanor assault to a standalone felony, according to DiCaudo, Pitchford & Yoder. Under the statute, charges escalate from a fifth-degree felony to third- or second-degree felonies when the victim is a family member, household member, or dating partner, or when serious physical harm results — enhancements that shaped the range of Gill's sentence, as explained by Luftman, Heck & Associates.
Why Strangulation Carries Extra Weight in Court
Lawmakers and advocates pushed for the statute because national research shows non-fatal strangulation by an intimate partner dramatically raises a victim's risk of being killed later by the same offender. Data from the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, cited by the Placer County District Attorney's Office, found that survivors of non-fatal strangulation are 750% more likely to eventually be killed by that partner. That risk factor helped drive Ohio's statutory overhaul in 2023.
The case also lands amid a documented rise in domestic violence deaths statewide. The Ohio Domestic Violence Network reported that Ohio saw 157 domestic violence-related fatalities between July 2024 and June 2025, a 37% jump over the prior year and the state's highest recorded annual total, according to Cincinnati CityBeat. Advocates noted that 12% of perpetrators in that report had a known history of strangulation.
An Interstate Supervision Case With More Ahead
Gill was under supervision by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority at the time of the June assault, after his supervision had been transferred from Marion County, Indiana. He had previously been convicted in Indiana of domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, strangulation, and intimidation of a victim, and had served prison time there. Records from the Hendricks County Sheriff's Office show Gill was also booked in April 2025 for a court-ordered probation violation in Indiana, according to entity background compiled by Mugshots Zone.
Once Gill completes his Ohio sentence, he will be supervised by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority for 18 to 36 months before facing extradition to Indiana and a revocation of supervision proceeding there. That sequence follows rules under the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision, which give the sending state — in this case Indiana — exclusive jurisdiction to revoke an offender's probation, while the receiving state independently prosecutes any new crimes, as detailed by the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision. Compact rules also require that retaking by the sending state be deferred until an offender finishes serving any newly imposed prison term, meaning Indiana's revocation proceedings against Gill cannot move forward until his Ohio sentence is complete.
Resources for Domestic Violence Survivors
Local survivors of domestic violence in Greene County can reach Violence Free Futures, formerly the Family Violence Prevention Center of Greene County, which operates a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency shelter, and legal advocacy services for victims in Xenia and surrounding communities, according to the Xenia Gazette. The nonprofit rebranded in 2023 and runs the county's primary safe house facility.
