No injuries were reported after authorities said two handgun rounds were fired inside the Williams County home.
MONTPELIER, Ohio — A northwest Ohio woman is accused of turning a private home into a crime scene after police said she entered her ex-husband’s residence while he slept and fired a handgun inside.
The case against Amanda S. Heller, 31, begins with the scene described in a Bryan Municipal Court complaint: a man in bed, a former spouse entering the home and two rounds fired from a handgun. It has since become a Williams County Common Pleas Court prosecution with attempted aggravated murder among the charges. Authorities have not reported injuries, but the allegations place a firearm inside an occupied home and frame the incident as domestic violence involving former spouses.
Police said the incident happened April 26 at the ex-husband’s home in Williams County. The man has not been publicly named in the reports reviewed. The complaint said Heller entered while he was asleep and then threatened to kill him. Local coverage quoted the filing as saying she “fired two rounds of a handgun while in the home.” The short account leaves many scene details unknown. It does not say whether the man woke before or after Heller entered, how close the gunfire came to him, where the bullets struck or what Heller allegedly did after the shots were fired.
There were no reported injuries and no other people were reported inside the home. That fact shaped the first public accounts, but it did not keep the case from escalating. Authorities later treated the conduct as an alleged attempt to kill rather than only an unlawful entry or weapons offense. The domestic link also matters because Heller and the man were identified as former spouses. Domestic violence charges can apply to family or household members, including people who have been married. The public filings did not include a motive, a divorce timeline or any prior history between the two.
Heller was taken into custody May 21 and booked into the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker. The arrest came almost a month after the alleged break-in. The reports reviewed do not explain the timing of the arrest, whether investigators were gathering evidence during that period or whether Heller was sought on a warrant. Her initial case in Bryan Municipal Court included a felonious assault charge. Bond was set at $100,000. If released, she was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim, a condition that would remain separate from the question of guilt.
The case then moved to Williams County Common Pleas Court after grand jury action. Heller was indicted on attempted aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, domestic violence and improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone. The indictment was certified May 21. The attempted aggravated murder charge is a first-degree felony with specifications. So is the aggravated burglary charge. The firearm discharge count is a second-degree felony with specifications, and the domestic violence count is a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Each charge requires prosecutors to prove specific legal elements before any conviction can stand.
The indictment gives the clearest view of how prosecutors read the event. It says Heller attempted to purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause another person’s death. It says she trespassed in an occupied structure with the purpose to commit a criminal offense while another person was present, and that she inflicted, attempted to inflict or threatened to inflict physical harm. It says a family or household member was made to believe physical harm would occur. It also says a firearm was knowingly discharged at or into a permanent or temporary habitation. Heller has not been found guilty of those claims.
Williams County’s public record system places the case in a local court path familiar to many felony prosecutions. Bryan Municipal Court can receive the first complaint and handle early matters such as bond. Common pleas court then takes over when an indictment is filed on felony counts. That sequence means the legal focus can change as prosecutors review evidence and present allegations to a grand jury. In Heller’s case, the public narrative widened from an alleged felonious assault to a multi-count indictment that includes an allegation of prior calculation and design.
The public record does not yet answer several questions that could matter later. It does not say whether the home had signs of forced entry, whether the alleged victim gave a recorded statement, whether police recovered a handgun or whether forensic testing was done on shell casings, bullet strikes or fingerprints. It also does not say whether anyone heard the gunfire from outside the residence. Those details may emerge through discovery, motions or testimony if the case moves toward trial. At this stage, the charging documents provide the framework, while the evidence behind them remains mostly out of public view.
Heller’s next reported court appearance was set for June 22 at 2:30 p.m. for a pretrial hearing. The hearing could help set the pace for the case, including deadlines for evidence exchange and any motions. Prosecutors may also address bond terms, while the defense may challenge parts of the state’s case or seek changes to release conditions. The reports reviewed did not identify a public comment from Heller, her lawyer or the ex-husband. They also did not show whether she had entered a final plea in common pleas court.
Currently, the case remains pending in Williams County. Heller was last reported in custody at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, with a $100,000 bond and a no-contact order tied to any release. The next steps depend on the common pleas court schedule and the filings that follow the pretrial hearing.
Author note: Last updated June 23, 2026.