Girlfriend Killer Who Tossed Body in School Dumpster Caught After Daughter Found ‘Bone Fragments’: Police

According to a news release from the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, 58-year-old James G. Drahos reportedly killed his live-in girlfriend, beating her to death at their home and storing her in a garbage can for more than a month before getting rid of her body in the dumpster of a local elementary school.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned a true bill indicting Drahos on one count each of murder, gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and domestic violence, in the death of Tammy Dubuisson, authorities announced.

Per the news release, Drahos and Dubuisson were believed to have been sharing a home between May 15 and June 6, 2024 in the Cleveland area, but prosecutors say that “on or about” May 23, the couple were in the driveway of the home when Drahos struck her in the head, causing her to fall to the ground.

After striking Dubuisson, Drahos allegedly walked back inside of the house, leaving her on the driveway for eight to 10 hours without providing Dubuisson with any kind of medical assistance or calling 911 for help.

“Dubuisson died from the assault and lack of medical care after striking the ground,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

Prosecutors say Drahos waited until the following day before he went back outside to discover that Dubuisson was dead, prosecutors said. He then allegedly “double-wrapped her body in construction trash bags and disposed of her in a garbage can outside their residence.”

Dubuisson was last seen alive on May 22 and was reported missing on June 19, Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW reported.

Prosecutors allege that Drahos left Dubuisson’s body to decompose in the trash can for more than a month.

It wasn’t util June 6 that he was believed to have removed the body and “transported her in a wagon to a nearby elementary school,” where he then put Dubuisson’s body into a dumpster behind the school and fled the scene, per the release.

Investigators were able to gleam more from the case after Drahos and Dubuisson’s daughter went to her parents’ home on July 7, where she located what appeared to be “bone fragments” in the driveway and called 911.

The Cleveland Division of Police responded and collected the fragments. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office then tested the bone fragments and confirmed that they were in fact “human remains,” before identifying them as Dubuisson.

Authorities placed Drahos under arrest and charged him with aggravated murder on July 9.

“Questions regarding Tammy Dubuisson’s disappearance went unanswered for over a month,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in a statement. “With this indictment, our office is starting to piece together the events that unfolded that tragic day and we are taking the first step to seek justice for Tammy and her family. My thoughts and prayers remain with them throughout this difficult time.”