A New Albany doctor has been charged with the rape and murder of a pregnant woman discovered in her car last summer.
44-year old Ali Salim was indicted Wednesday/today in Delaware County on nine felony counts in the death of 23-year-old Deanna Ballman and her unborn child. Ballman lived in Pataskala and had been reported missing when she failed to return from a housecleaning job she'd obtained from an online ad. Her mother said Ballman called saying she wasn't feeling well, and then the call was dropped. Ballman's body was discovered in her car August 1. A coroner determined she died of acute heroin intoxication. Salim faces two counts of murder as well as charges of rape, felonious assault, kidnapping corrupting another with drugs and abuse of a corpse. Salim was an early subject of investigation; police reports indicate other women who had answered online ads he placed had filed complaints.
