MEDINA COUNTY, Ohio — January 29 was supposed to be a fun night out with friends for 24-year old Luke Bice. He took an Uber from where he was staying in Hudson to Thirsty Cowboys Bar in Medina County.
His half-brother Stephen Bice said Luke Bice wasn’t much of a drinker but wanted to get a ride out to Medina in case he did drink.
“So he Ubered out there to the Thirsty Cowboy and everybody knew he didn't drive out there and they all proceeded to close the bar down, so at about 2:30 in the morning after everybody had had their fill, he was waiting outside,” said Stephen Bice.
He said Luke Bice wasn’t dressed properly for the weather as the temperature dropped into the teens that night. Stephen Bice said a friend Luke was with offered to take him home, but his brother said he would wait for an Uber driver, so she left.
“When she left him, of course, he started to get cold. There's a Sheetz a little down the way and Luke's from the area, so he, I would imagine in his head, he figured I'll just walk down to the 24-hour Sheetz and warm up there,” said Stephen Bice. “The police said his phone was probably so cold by the time he realized he was in trouble. He couldn't call me because I didn't get a phone message.”
According to the Medina County Sheriff’s report, police were notified around 3:30 a.m. that a male was deceased, face-down in the snow near Avalon RV Center on Medina Road. Luke Bice had lacerations on his arms, frozen blood on his nose, and was frostbitten. He was about half a mile from Sheetz.
“Luke's body, in order to keep him alive, his instincts told him to burrow. He had frostbite all over his legs. He was all scratched up from digging at the ground,” said Stephen Bice. “He was not in good condition.”
It’s another unthinkable loss for the Bice family.
“It’s very unfair, and I just wish this stuff would stop happening,” said Bice
In 2016, Luke and Stephen’s father 53-year-old Stephen Bice killed Luke’s mother and Stephen’s stepmom 42-year-old Kristi Bice.
At the time, Bice and his wife Chelstine, took in Luke and his two younger brothers.
“They came to live with me they had a good experience with me. We made the best of the situation,” said Bice. “At the time that it all happened, the boys asked me, ‘Well, why us? Why this? Why that? And I told the kids at that time, you know, life is rarely fair but the test of who we are as people is what we do when we get up.”
Bice said since 2016, he’s looked at Luke and his brothers as his own sons, and said Luke was doing well.
“He just kept pushing through just like he always did, and he eventually got a hold of what it was he was supposed to be doing. He was in transition to finding himself and I think he finally was on the right path for him, and it's just sad that it ended abruptly for him.”
The Bice family has set up a GoFundMe Page to cover the expenses of Luke’s funeral.If you’d like to help click here.
