CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — While the fight for answers as to what led to the death of 18-year-old Christion Olson continues, the family feels as if they just took another big hit.
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Earlier this week, we told you how Olson's parents, Rochelle and Christopher, were raising money to incentivize credible tipsters to come forward.
"We're not quitters. He wasn't a quitter, so we know that he would want us to keep moving forward in a positive way to get justice for him," Rochelle Olson said on Monday. "This is a pain that no one should have to feel."
The Olsons' GoFundMe raised about $3,100 as of Monday night. Since then, it has risen to $3,400.
"We want everyone to know what happened to our beautiful son," Olson said.
Christopher Olson added, "To get the justice he deserves, to find out the answers that we need. Somebody has them. Somebody knows something."
The Cuyahoga County Crime Stoppers also facilitated a $5,000 reward on behalf of the Media County Prosecutor's Office.
According to the Crime Stoppers' Facebook page, the reward has been facilitated since November 27, 2024.
We, as a family, know nothing more today than we know the night that he passed away nine months ago. There seems to be no information available to us as a family as far as answers of what happened that night. We have concerns with the investigation and the amount of resources available to the investigating department due to their lack of experience in homicide investigations.
Our son was never in trouble. He’d never been arrested. He was a young man ready to start his new chapter in life. He had a full time job as an hourly manager at Marco’s Pizza. He was a responsible, caring and loving human being. He deserves justice. He deserves to have his story told.
"The posting of a reward for information is not something I take lightly. However, after meeting with the family and hearing their pain, I wanted to try to assist law enforcement with their investigative efforts. I used Crime Stoppers in the past and found them to be a valuable resource, so I reached out to them for assistance in this case," Medina County Prosecutor Forrest Thompson said via email Thursday morning.
However, Cuyahoga County Crime Stoppers Executive Director, Patricia Meehan, confirms the facilitation of this reward is no longer happening.
News 5 followed up with Thompson with a list of questions, including why. He said he was not informed of Crime Stoppers' discontinuance of services regarding the reward his office pledged until we told him.
Thompson claims it wasn't until the next day that he found out.
"I was not involved in that decision," he said. "According to their spokesperson, the problem arose originally when the family was posting information that indicated the reward had been increased through Crime Stoppers. They had contact with the family and advised them that they had no process to co-mingle funds and since the reward was being posted by my office they could not accept the additional money. Apparently, after this there was additional communication that compelled the Crime Stoppers board to vote to rescind their involvement. I cannot speak to what exactly lead them to this decision."
Thompson explained that his office, as well as Cuyahoga County Crime Stoppers, has no means of oversight of any "supplemental monetary reward" being advertised.
"This includes the terms under which such a reward would be paid out or any independent means to receive/verify anonymous tips," Thompson said.
We asked Thompson if guidelines are provided to victims' families once Crime Stoppers facilitates a reward campaign on behalf of his office.
He said, "My office does not counsel families regarding posting a reward nor do we have responsibility to do so. Posting a reward is an extreme measure which is done in rare and difficult cases and is done under strict guidelines. There is not specific protocol for doing so."
We've also reached out to Cuyahoga County Crime Stoppers multiple times for further explanation.
News 5 briefly spoke with Meehan over the phone Thursday afternoon. She claims the organization has spoken with the Olson family several times about not using their logo when discussing an increased reward and also confirmed that they cannot co-mingle the fundraised dollars with the Medina County Prosecutor's offering.
Our call was disconnected, but we followed up with an additional call, text, and email to request a further conversation, with a deadline of 8 p.m. However, we did not hear back before publication.
"We are beyond devastated at the loss of our child and feel so alone at every turn in our search for justice. As of right now, the Crime Stoppers campaign on behalf of our son has been canceled by Crime Stoppers. We were informed it was due to us trying to raise more money for reward in a commingling of the funds, which leaves us absolutely befuddled because all we were trying to do is increase the reward. We had no idea we were breaking any rules by trying to increase the reward nor would we want to jeopardize in any way, shape, form or fashion, justice for our son," the Olsons said.
Any tips coming forward should now be directed to the Brunswick Hills Police Department, according to Thompson.
Meanwhile, the Olson family said they will continue searching high and low for answers as to what happened to their son, Christion.
"We thank Crime Stoppers for the time and effort that they have put forth towards our case. We understand that they extended themselves from out of Cuyahoga County to assist us while we are residents of Medina County and greatly appreciated it. We hope Medina County could start a Crime Stoppers, maybe in honor of our son’s case because there are some serious things that need to be looked into. We appreciate everyone’s love and support and hopefully you will continue to seek justice for Christion with us. We will not rest until justice has been served for our son," the couple said.
Since Medina County doesn't have a Crime Stoppers program specific to the area, according to Thompson, they're unsure if the $5,000 is completely off the table. News 5 asked Thompson for clarification and is waiting to hear back.
For now, the Olson family is trying to remember their son as the "exquisitely beautiful spirit who was the definition of an empath" as best as they can.
"He had just recently graduated from Medina High School and was to have his graduation party set for July 20, 2024 . We unfortunately went from planning a joyous celebration to planning a funeral. We are extremely distraught and overcome with angst because of the lack of understanding for the series of events that we know have lead to his suspicious and nefarious timely passing," the Olsons said.
