Schare Investigative Services

Schare Investigative Services

Our pledge

Governed by the highest ethical standards, our agency strictly maintains a policy of integrity, honesty, and professionalism with our work and confidentiality for all our clients.


Investigative specialists

Experience, confidentiality, and discretion are some of what you look for in a private investigator or agency. Schare Investigative Services embodies those characteristics, along with many others, making us one of the more respected agencies. For more than two decades, we have worked with private individuals, corporate clients, and legal agencies on a range of criminal and civil cases. When it comes to private detective work, you won't find a more engaged or better equipped agency. Retired Cincinnati Police Homicide DetectiveLicensed Ohio Private InvestigatorMore than 30 years of investigative experience

Services







Why choose us

Schare Investigative Services has been based in Cincinnati, Ohio for over 6 years, and has earned a reputation for professional investigations. Schare Investigative Services is a full-service investigative and security agency.
As with many professions, the private investigation industry has adapted to changing times and environments. While the basic fundamentals of investigation have not changed, the new generation of investigative tools and equipment facilitates a more timely approach to the successful result that our clients have come to expect from SIS.
Even with the most cutting edge technology, it is important to have a strong background in law enforcement and investigative experience. SIS combines the best of new technology with law enforcement experience and expertise in investigations, along with other assets, internal resources, and developed contacts, to ensure that we achieve the greatest success possible in meeting our clients’ needs.
Whether for a private individual, attorney, or corporation, we have the capability and experience to handle your case with the utmost discretion. Our developed resources enable SIS to identify and obtain information and records, meeting our clients’ requirements with great success.
Discretion and confidentiality are imperative, and at SIS, you can be assured that your case will receive just that. We pride ourselves on providing each client with quality service, and each assignment is managed with the individual attention it deserves. Schare Investigative Services' strongest attributes are determination and persistence. Although the degree of sensitivity involved in each case may vary, we are motivated by, and dedicated to, obtaining the best possible outcome for each task assigned.
Should a situation arise in which you need discrete private investigative service, it would be our pleasure to be of assistance. You can be confident that Schare Investigative Services will meet or exceed your needs.
About us
Prompt service
Reasonable prices
Fully trained investigators
All types of cases
Shots Fired on Reading Road tells the true story of the 1961 murder of Cincinnati Patrolman Donald Martin and the forty-four-year search for the man who killed him.
Martin was working the overnight shift when he stopped near a car dealership on Reading Road. Within minutes, he had been shot multiple times with his own service revolver. Witnesses saw the gunman. Police recovered the weapon, clothing believed to have been discarded by the killer, and other evidence. Hundreds of suspects were investigated and thousands of people were questioned. Detectives even developed a promising suspect—Walter Baker Walls—but the evidence never became strong enough to support a prosecution. As the years passed, the case grew cold.
In 2005, Cincinnati Homicide Detectives Jeff Schare and Kurt Ballman reopened the investigation after an unrelated lead brought Martin's forgotten case back to their attention. What began with old reports and boxes of evidence led them to retired detectives, surviving eyewitnesses, prison recollections, long-held family secrets, and statements that had remained buried for decades. Piece by piece, the investigation returned to the same man the original detectives had suspected years earlier.
Drawing on police records, contemporary reporting, original interview recordings, photographs, and Schare's firsthand account of the reinvestigation, Shots Fired on Reading Road reconstructs both the murder and the extraordinary effort to finally answer the question that had followed Patrolman Donald Martin for more than four decades.
Walter Baker Walls never stood trial for Martin's murder. He had died before the case was reopened. But after forty-four years, Schare and Ballman reached an investigative conclusion that finally gave the case an answer.
This is not simply the story of a cold case. It is the story of two generations of detectives, the limits of evidence and memory, and the determination to ensure that a murdered police officer was never forgotten.
Some cases end with a conviction. Others end with the truth.