Amanda Heller faces attempted aggravated murder and other charges after an April 26 incident in Williams County.

BRYAN, Ohio — A Montpelier woman is in custody after authorities said she broke into her ex-husband’s Williams County home while he was asleep, threatened to kill him and fired two handgun rounds inside the residence.

Amanda S. Heller, 31, is charged in Williams County Common Pleas Court after a case that began in Bryan Municipal Court moved to a grand jury. The allegations center on a private home, a former marriage and gunfire that authorities said did not injure anyone. The case now carries felony counts that could bring serious prison exposure if prosecutors prove them in court. Heller is presumed innocent unless convicted.

The incident was reported from April 26. A criminal complaint filed in Bryan Municipal Court said Heller entered the home while the man was in bed. Authorities said she then made threats against him. The complaint said Heller “fired two rounds of a handgun while in the home,” language later repeated in local reporting on the case. The man’s name has not been released in the reports reviewed. WTOL identified him as Heller’s ex-husband, tying the case to a domestic relationship rather than a stranger burglary. No other people were reported inside the home at the time, and no injuries were listed in the complaint.

Heller was arrested May 21, nearly four weeks after the alleged break-in and shooting. She was booked into the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in Stryker, the regional jail that holds inmates from several northwest Ohio counties. Early court records listed a felonious assault case in Bryan Municipal Court. Her bond was set at $100,000, and a judge ordered that she have no contact with the alleged victim if she were released. That order placed a clear barrier between Heller and the man while the criminal case moved forward. The court filings did not publicly explain why there was a gap between the April 26 incident and the May 21 arrest.

The legal posture changed after the case reached Williams County Common Pleas Court. A Williams County grand jury indicted Heller on four counts after action by the second term grand jury. The indictment was certified May 21, the same date listed for her booking. The most serious count is attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony with specifications. The indictment also charges aggravated burglary as a first-degree felony with specifications, improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or a school safety zone as a second-degree felony with specifications, and domestic violence as a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

The attempted aggravated murder count alleges Heller attempted to purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of another person. The aggravated burglary count alleges she trespassed in an occupied structure while another person was present, acted with the purpose to commit a criminal offense and inflicted, attempted to inflict or threatened to inflict physical harm. The domestic violence count alleges a family or household member was made to believe physical harm would occur. The firearm count alleges a gun was knowingly discharged at or into an occupied structure used as a habitation. Those allegations remain claims by prosecutors, not findings by a judge or jury.

The case has drawn attention because of the details authorities placed in the charging documents: a sleeping homeowner, an alleged entry by a former spouse, a threat to kill and two shots fired inside a residence. Officials have not publicly released a motive. They also have not reported whether the handgun was recovered, whether shell casings were collected inside the home or whether any door, window or lock was damaged during the alleged entry. The court record and reports reviewed did not describe any prior police calls involving the former couple, when their marriage ended or whether a civil protection order existed before the incident.

Williams County is a rural northwest Ohio county near the Indiana and Michigan lines. Bryan is the county seat, while Montpelier sits west of Bryan along U.S. 20A. Criminal cases there often begin in municipal court when police file a complaint, then move to common pleas court when prosecutors present felony allegations to a grand jury. In this case, the common pleas indictment became the controlling step for the most serious charges. The move from an initial felonious assault case to an attempted aggravated murder indictment signaled that prosecutors were treating the alleged threat and gunfire as more than a household disturbance.

Heller’s next listed court event was a pretrial hearing set for June 22 at 2:30 p.m. in Williams County Common Pleas Court. At that stage, the court could address scheduling, discovery, plea issues, bond conditions or other procedural matters. The reports reviewed did not show that Heller had entered a final plea to the common pleas indictment, nor did they identify a defense attorney speaking on her behalf. Prosecutors will have to prove each element of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt for any conviction. The defense may contest the facts, intent, identification, evidence handling or the meaning of events inside the home.

The alleged victim survived the incident without reported physical injury, but the case remains open in court. Heller remained held at the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio in the latest reports reviewed, with a no-contact condition attached to any release on bond. The next public milestone is the Williams County Common Pleas Court schedule tied to the June 22 pretrial hearing.

Author note: Last updated June 23, 2026.