Licking County Sheriff's deputies responding to a report of a deceased person on the 100 block of Van Tassal Avenue in Newark on Saturday evening found 62-year-old John Price dead inside the house — and then discovered something else inside the home: what appeared to be grenades and other explosive memorabilia left out in plain sight, thought to date back to the World War II era.
A Welfare Check Becomes an Ordnance Call
Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp said deputies responded Saturday evening. The Licking County Sheriff's Office has not suggested that foul play was involved in Price's death, according to myfox28columbus.com. While securing the scene, deputies came across the suspected explosive devices, which the sheriff's office said appeared inert and not dangerous.
Even so, the discovery was enough to bring in specialized help. The Columbus Bomb Squad responded to the Newark home to ensure the safety of surrounding neighbors, per the outlet's report.
What Happens to the Grenades Now
Sheriff's officials said the explosives will be disposed of at a remote location if they are thought to become a danger, per the same account. It is one more entry in a recurring pattern for the region: military souvenirs and old ordnance keep turning up in central Ohio homes, often during estate cleanouts or, as in this case, a death investigation.
The region has seen this scenario before. In February, the Columbus Bomb Squad and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel carried out a late-night controlled detonation of military artillery shells after a new property owner found them in neighboring Knox County, a joint operation Hoodline covered at the time. And the Licking County Sheriff's Office itself has a history of working with the Columbus unit: in July 2020, the bomb squad was called to the sheriff's office lobby in Newark after a suspect left behind a package containing explosive liquid, and technicians responded to take the package for safe destruction, according to 10TV.
Ohio Law on Old Military Explosives
Ohio law takes a hard line on unauthorized possession of military ordnance. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2923.17, knowingly possessing dangerous ordnance is a fifth-degree felony, while illegally manufacturing explosives is a second-degree felony, according to the Ohio General Assembly.
State law does, however, offer an exception for people who find themselves holding onto old family heirlooms of this kind. Ohio Revised Code Section 2923.23 provides a safe harbor that exempts individuals from criminal weapons prosecution if they voluntarily report and surrender dangerous ordnance to law enforcement. That provision is meant to encourage safe turn-ins rather than pushing people to quietly hang onto potentially unstable devices out of fear of charges.
Newark, the county seat of Licking County located 40 miles east of Columbus, had an estimated population of 50,783 residents as of 2024, making it the state's 18th-largest city. Licking County as a whole has grown to an estimated 186,788 residents in 2026, a 12% increase since 2010 fueled by industrial and residential expansion in the eastern Columbus metro area — growth that has brought more emergency callouts to older neighborhoods where relics like these can surface unexpectedly.
The Columbus Bomb Squad's reach extends well beyond ordnance calls like this one. In August, the unit swept a Walmart Supercenter in southwest Columbus after a bomb threat, a deployment Hoodline also reported, underscoring how the same specialized team handles everything from venue sweeps to decades-old wartime explosives found in private homes.
The official cause of Price's death has not been released, and the sheriff's office has not detailed how the explosive memorabilia came to be in the home.
