Deadly Rejection: The Murder of Troy Temar

Gina Westfall
2 days ago
7 min read

On the early morning of July 4^th, 1999, Troy Temar was supposed to be volunteering to park cars for a fundraising event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This was one of many generous acts Troy volunteered for, as giving was just his nature. However, at four o’clock that morning, first responders received a call about a burning vehicle on an abandoned property. Inside the vehicle was the dead body of Troy Temar.

The vehicle belonged to Jimmy Temar, Jr., Troy’s brother. First responders were unable to recognize the identity of the person at first, or how they had died. The investigation began by identifying the vehicle. Jimmy Temar Jr., of Warren County, Ohio, was alive and well. He informed the officers that his brother, Troy, had borrowed the vehicle and had not returned home that night. It was presumed that the body was Troy and forensic evidence later confirmed this.

Troy Lee Peter Temar was born March 18^th, 1969, and was thirty years old at the time of his death. He was born in Lebanon and currently living in Deer Park, Ohio. He was the second oldest of four children. Troy was popular in high school, becoming an athlete and the homecoming king. He was a construction worker after high school and became a project manager. He was charismatic and dated many women, sometimes multiple women at a time.

While working construction, Troy met a woman who finally made him consider becoming exclusive. Her name was Theresa. Theresa had always wanted to be a wife and mother but had struggled in two unsuccessful marriages. She eventually found herself as the bookkeeper for the construction company in which Troy worked. Sparks flew, and the two became a serious couple. They started living together and soon decided to open their own construction company in 1998.

While Theresa focused on the clerical work and bookkeeping, Troy focused on the project management. For the first year, it went well. However, work slowed down after that. Theresa, who went by Terri, took a second job to make ends meet. That caused issues when Terri was caught embezzling money from the second job. She admitted to stealing, claiming her intentions were to keep Troy’s dream of having his own company alive. She was fired, obviously, and made to pay restitution after pleading guilty to felony theft.

Troy was very unhappy with Theresa as he was unaware of her illegal activities. In March 1999, Troy asked her to move out. Reluctantly, she did. Troy also moved out of their house and in with his brother Jimmy. The two, although splitting up, continued to talk and see each other occasionally. It seemed that perhaps there still may have been a chance for reconciliation, however small.

The medical examiner’s report determined not only the confirmed identity of Troy Temar, but also the manner and cause of death. The cause of death was multiple gun shots from a 40 caliber to the back of the head. Troy bled out in the vehicle. The manner of death was homicide. Troy did not die from the fire. The fire was set to destroy evidence and was certainly arson.

Detectives first interviewed Jimmy, as it was his vehicle that Troy was in. They determined that the brothers were very close and Jimmy had an alibi. He was eliminated as a suspect. Interviews with friends and family determined that Troy had another love interest, however, and she was married. Detectives’ ears perked up. If Troy was having an affair with a married woman, that could certainly be a motive for murder.

Troy’s girlfriend, Gabby, is shocked to learn of Troy’s death. She seemed genuinely devastated and provided an alibi of being on a camping trip with her husband. She is not the only suspect, however. Did her husband know about the affair? No. He did not. The detectives interviewed him as well. He confirmed the camping alibi. While this alibi would be shaky if it was just Gabby and her husband on the trip, there were other corroborating witnesses on the trip that put the couple far away from the scene of the crime. They are ultimately eliminated as suspects and the most promising lead yet is a dead end.

Troy’s call history revealed that Terri had called Troy non-stop on July 3^rd, once at 9:30pm, which was the last call Troy received. That raised major red flags, pointing the finger at Terri. Troy’s friend also tells detectives that Troy and Theresa did not break up only because of the embezzlement scheme. Terri had also had Troy arrested for domestic violence months early on fabricated allegations after stabbing herself with sewing needles. She later admitted it was a lie and dropped the charges. The friend claimed this was Troy’s last straw. Detectives were able to confirm this story. Terri became the top suspect.

Terri was brought in for a formal interview. She claimed that she and Troy were still best friends, and she admitted that she and Troy had been together the night of July 3^rd, 1999. She claimed they went to a park and walked around before Troy dropped Terri off at 12:30 am on July 4^th, 1999. Theresa’s father confirmed that she arrived home at 12:30 am and said his son Eric arrived home shortly after. Eric Hoerlelin, her younger brother, said he attended an AA meeting that night after arriving home around 1:00 am.

Although still suspicious, there was no evidence to link anyone to the crime. There was gun casing without a gun to link it to. There were alibis that could not be disproved apparently. We would later see that perhaps better investigation could have been utilized. The case went cold.

By July 8^th, four days after the murder, the family of Troy Temar started a foundation in his honor to give back to his community in his honor. That is how they chose to remember him because that is who he was. The Troy Temar Memorial Fund funded an $80,000 press box at the Deer Park High School stadium where Troy previously played football and ran track. Additionally, funds provided scholarships for students and assisted a mother going through treatment for a brain tumor. “If Troy was around, he would have done something to help” Steve Reutelshofer, a friend told The Cincinnati Enquirer (2006).

By 2005, a cold case unit took another look at the case. They looked at the history of Theresa Voss, still the most likely suspect. Although she had no criminal history, she did have a violent history. After her second marriage fell apart, Terri pulled a knife on her husband, stabbing him several times in his neck. She barely missed his carotid artery! She was checked into a psychiatric unit, and he declined to press charges. Somehow, she got counseling and was never charged!

The new task force took a deeper look at the alibis. The route that Terri claimed that she and Troy took the night of July 3^rd would have been impossible to take in the time frame she claimed- something they should have discovered in 1999. They also found out that there was no AA meeting for her brother to attend that night- another thing good detective work should have found in 1999.

Another ex of Theresa told detectives that when he broke up with Theresa, he was attacked by an intruder with a hatchet in the middle of the night. The attacker turned himself him and placed the blame on Theresa Voss. However, she was not charged in that crime either- despite the man losing two fingers! How this woman escaped justice is beyond comprehension! Apparently, there was no evidence.

The detectives knew that Theresa likely did not commit this crime alone and had a hunch that Eric Hoerlein was likely her accomplice. By this time, Theresa had married (becoming Theresa Voss) and had an 18-month-old son. Her husband believed in her innocence, but the detectives did not.

When Eric was brought in for questioning again in September of 2005, he admitted his role in the crime. He told the detectives that Theresa had borrowed a gun from him. He said that on the night of the murder, Theresa called him to the scene, claiming she had a fight with Troy. He said Troy was already dead. He claims he tried to call an ambulance, but Terri said no.

According to Eric, he put Troy’s car in the trunk of the car and lit the vehicle on fire. The gun was placed in a trash bin. He said that Terri claimed that she had to shoot Troy to avoid being attacked. Eric Hoerlein and Theresa Voss were both arrested and charged with murder, but Eric’s charges were reduced in exchange for his testimony against his sister. He was given a five-year sentence.

Theresa went to trial in October 2006. She pleaded not guilty. During the trial, a phone call between Theresa and her current husband was presented in which Terri admitted to shooting Troy was presented. She did, however, claim it was self-defense. Her brother testified against her. The prosecution’s theory of the crime is that Troy once again rejected her advances, and Terri could not handle that.

Theresa Voss was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years to life in the Ohio department of corrections. Her earliest possible parole date is in 2038 at at the age of 74. She is currently housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. This truly is a story of Deadly Rejection.