PIKE COUNTY, OH (WCMH) — He spent 32 years battling crime in Pike County and understands the strain law enforcement has dealt with over the last week.

For nearly 16 years, Waverly’s former police chief Mike Corwin has owned and run the Diner 23, perched 50 feet from US 23.

Corwin says during big cases none of the police officers get much sleep. “It stretches your resources,” he said.

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader is getting a lot of help from 20 some other departments, and the investigative resources and manpower of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, but Corwin says the long haul gets to you.

“It is probably wearing all of the departments thin here, all the surrounding agencies including BCI,” said Corwin. That goes doubly so for the chief or sheriff. “You think you need to go home and get some rest, but you can’t because there is something else really pressing that you need to check into to. Then something else crops up, then something else,” he said.

Eight murders, four crime scenes, a mobile crime unit all need manpower around the clock. Authorities say more than 300 tips have poured in and dozens of people have been interviewed.

“Somewhere along the line you develop the energy to do it, but there is just a point where you have to get some rest,” Corwin said.What others are clicking on: