Cincinnati police are searching for a 67-year-old Westwood man accused of repeatedly striking a woman in the head, face, and hands with a filled can, leaving her with a broken nose and serious injuries that required hospitalization. Investigators say Joseph Asche struck the victim on McHenry Avenue on August 12, and he has not been arrested. Police note that Asche has no known arrest history, an unusual detail in a case now being handled as a felony assault investigation.
According to WLWT, Asche was last known to live in the Westwood area and is described as 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds. Cincinnati Police District Three is leading the search, and a bulletin issued Monday by Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Crime Stoppers confirmed the felonious assault charge and listed his last known residence on McHenry Avenue. Police have asked anyone with information to submit a tip online at crime-stoppers.us or call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.
A Reward for Information, and a Serious Charge on the Books
Crime Stoppers is offering cash rewards of up to $2,500 for anonymous tips that lead to an arrest in violent felony cases like the one against Asche, according to the organization's bulletin. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.11, felonious assault is a second-degree felony when someone knowingly causes serious physical harm to another person, carrying a potential sentence of two to eight years in prison and fines up to $15,000, per a review of the statute by Ohio Laws. It is among the most serious violent offenses on the books in Ohio short of attempted murder.
Cincinnati Police Department's District Three administration oversees law enforcement across Westwood and the surrounding West Side, and the division assigns dedicated neighborhood liaison officers to the area. The unresolved search for Asche adds to a string of violent incidents that have put McHenry Avenue under repeated scrutiny over the past several years.
McHenry Avenue's Troubled Recent History
The street has seen a pattern of violent crime investigations stretching back years. In a May 2026 case reported by Hoodline, a woman was shot in the foot inside a McHenry Avenue residence, resulting in felonious assault and weapons charges against a 43-year-old resident. In April, Hoodline reported that Cincinnati police investigated a separate shooting on the 3000 block of McHenry Avenue after a male victim showed up at a local hospital with a gunshot wound.
The street's history of violence extends further back. Crime Stoppers records document a fatal shooting on McHenry Avenue in January 2025, when 21-year-old Antonio Richard was shot on the street and later died from his injuries at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a case investigated by the Cincinnati Police Homicide Unit. Ohio First District Court of Appeals records also detail a November 2022 shooting outside a residence at 3166 McHenry Avenue, in which a man was shot in the ankle during a dispute; the assailant in that case was later convicted on weapons and drug charges.
A Neighborhood Grappling With Crime and Aging Housing
Neighborhood safety analytics updated in July ranked Westwood's overall crime index at roughly 40% above the national average, with violent crime tracking about 20% higher than national levels, Hoodline reported in its coverage of a recent shooting on nearby McFadden Avenue. Westwood remains Cincinnati's largest neighborhood by land mass and is home to more than 10% of the city's population.
City planning data folded into the Westwood Neighborhood Plan shows the neighborhood added fewer than 800 residential housing units between 2000 and 2026, leaving most of its housing stock more than 55 years old, according to Hoodline's earlier reporting on Westwood's housing initiatives. Community organizations are currently pursuing housing stabilization efforts in the neighborhood even as public safety concerns persist along corridors like McHenry Avenue.
For now, Asche remains at large, and police have not indicated whether they have identified additional leads. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
