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Shawn Grate Ohio Death Row

Shawn Grate was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a series of sexual murders. According to court documents Shawn Grate was responsible for a series of sexual assaults and murders in Ohio. This serial killer would be convicted of five murders and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Shawn Grate 2021 Information

Number A751645

DOB 08/08/1976

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 06/01/2018

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Shawn Grate More News

The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously affirmed the convictions and death sentence for Shawn Grate in the murder of two women in Ashland County.

Grate, who murdered at least five women in three Ohio counties, was convicted in 2018 of killing Stacey Stanley, 43, and Elizabeth Griffith, 29, after a lengthy jury trial in Ashland County Common Pleas Court.

The jury recommended the death penalty for Grate, and Judge Ron Forsthoefel agreed.

Grate’s one-man crime spree ended after he kidnapped a woman prosecutors identified as Jane Doe. Grate raped her multiple times, but she managed to escape after calling 911 with Grate’s phone on Sept. 13, 2016.

After Doe’s rescue and the apprehension of Grate, police found the bodies of Griffith and Stanley at a house at 363 Covert Court, near downtown Ashland. Both women had been strangled. The vacant house where Grate had been squatting has since been demolished.

Grate also has been convicted of killing two women in Richland County: Candice Cunningham, 29, and Rebekah Leicy, 31, all by strangulation, and was given a life sentence last year for the 2006 murder of Dana Nicole Lowrey in Marion County.

Defense attorney Robert Whitney handled the Ashland County case with son Rolf.

The state’s highest court rejected Grate’s arguments that his trial was riddled with errors sufficient to overturn his conviction.

Grate claimed that his defense attorneys were ineffective for failing to request a change in venue; for failing to request a gag order; for withdrawing his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity outside of his presence; for declining to make opening statements, and for failing to cross-examine the majority of the state’s witnesses.

However, the court did find that Grate’s attorneys were deficient when they did not object to testimony about glass tubes, each of which contained “love roses” allegedly used for drugs. The court also found Grate’s attorneys were deficient when they did not object to “irrelevant” testimony concerning a stolen safe and Grate’s phone calls to a marijuana dealer.

Justice Judi French, writing for the court, also noted an “inappropriate” remark made by one of Grate’s attorneys, and wondered whether the attorney’s “graphic characterization” of Grate’s motivation for killing Stanley was appropriate or helpful.

“But none of these errors rose to the level of reversible error,” French wrote.

“In view of the overwhelming evidence of Grate’s guilt, we conclude that the cumulative effect of counsel’s errors did not deprive him of a fair trial.”

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Sharon Kennedy, Patrick Fischer, Patrick DeWine, and Melody Stewart joined Justice French’s decision.

In a written concurring opinion, Justice Michael Donnelly agreed with the court’s opinion and judgment upholding Grate’s convictions and death sentences, but expressed alarm about decisions made by Grate’s attorneys, saying their failings “were more than plentiful.”

Donnelly wrote that Grate’s attorneys failed to ensure the timely analysis of Grate’s neuroimaging results and failed to ensure that an expert was able to finish Grate’s mitigation report, leaving the jury with an incomplete view of Grate’s mental health.

“Counsel’s failure to provide the jury with Grate’s potential mental-health diagnoses could be particularly problematic given that mental-health diagnoses are ‘entitled to significant weight in mitigation,'” Donnelly wrote.

“However, speculation is not evidence and there is not enough information in the record before this court to conclude whether Grate has satisfied the prejudice prong of the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel analysis,” Donnelly added. “Information outside the record is necessary to determine whether counsel’s failure to present particular evidence had a prejudicial impact on the outcome of Grate’s mitigation phase of his capital proceedings.”

“If such evidence exists, it would be entirely appropriate to submit it in a postconviction petition as support for an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim.”

French, in her decision, wrote that the court gave “considerable” consideration to Grate’s mental health problems.

Dr. John Fabian, a clinical psychologist, testified during trial and diagnosed Grate with a long-term mild depressive condition, a bipolar and related disorders, ADHD, a language-based learning disorder, a neuro cognizance disorder, and a personality disorder.

French also wrote that consideration was given to Grate’s background and upbringing. His older half-sister, Barbara Charter, testified during trial that she cared for Grate until she was about 16 because their mother was frequently absent.

“Dr. Fabian linked Grate’s feelings of misery toward his mother, and his fantasy of murdering her, with similar feelings that caused him to murder Griffith and Stanley,” French wrote. “But we find nothing that is mitigating in this connection. And Grate acknowledged during allocution that he knew right from wrong when he strangled Griffith and Stanley. Upon independent weighing, we conclude that the aggravating circumstances as to each aggravated-murder count clearly outweigh the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Grate is housed at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. Even if Grate appeals the decision upholding his death sentence, it’s not clear when he would face execution.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that no more executions would be held in Ohio until state lawmakers pick an alternative to lethal injection.

DeWine said he still supports capital punishment as Ohio law. But he has come to question its value since the days he helped write the state’s current law — enacted in 1981 — because of the long delays between crime and punishment.

https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/2020/12/10/convicted-serial-killer-shawn-grates-death-sentence-upheld-ohio/3877786001/

James Goff Ohio Death Row

James Goff was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a robbery murder. According to court documents James Goff forced his way into the elderly victims home where she would be stabbed multiple time causing the eighty eight year old victims death. James Goff would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

James Goff 2021 Information

Number A317302

DOB 01/26/1975

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 08/28/1995I

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

James Goff More News

[Myrtle] Rutledge, an eighty-eight-year-old woman, was in the process of moving out of her old farmhouse and into a new doublewide trailer home that was built directly behind the farmhouse. Her daughter, Esther Crownover, had been helping her sort out items from the old house, in which she had lived for forty-seven years.

Rutledge decided to purchase some new furniture for her new house, and on September 14, 1994, she and Crownover went to Butler Home Furnishings in Wilmington, Ohio. After purchasing a new mattress, box springs, chair, ottoman, and sofa, Rutledge made arrangements for the furniture to be delivered the next day.

Butler Home Furnishings had employed appellant for furniture deliveries for about a year. Harold E. Butler, Jr., the son of the owner, would contact appellant when he had a delivery and then, depending on the item, would get another person to assist appellant with the delivery. Butler Furnishings had also used Manuel Jackson as a delivery person for the seven months prior to September 1994.

Appellant and Jackson were contacted to make the delivery to Rutledge on September 15, 1994. When appellant and Jackson arrived with the furniture, Rutledge directed them to put the new furniture in the new house. Since there was no bed frame in the new house, appellant asked whether Rutledge wanted them to obtain the frame from the old house and assemble the bed in the new house. After they indicated that they would not charge Rutledge any additional money for this service, Rutledge took them into the old house, up to the second floor, and pointed out the bed frame that was to be used with the new bedding. The old house was in a state of disarray from the ongoing moving process. Jackson thought he saw appellant “snooping” through Rutledge’s belongings.

Appellant and Jackson disassembled the old bed, took the frame to the new house, and set up the new bed. While Jackson finished the assembly, appellant obtained Rutledge’s signature on the delivery form.

Later that afternoon, Rodney Rutledge, the victim’s son, arrived at his mother’s house around 4:00 p.m. to mow the lawn. She showed him her new furnishings that had been delivered that day. When he left (around 5:30 p.m.), his mother’s car was parked in the driveway next to the house.

On the night of September 15, Myrtle Rutledge spoke on the telephone to her sister (6:30-7:00 p.m.) and her sister-in-law (around 9:00 p.m.) concerning the upcoming family reunion on Saturday, September 17. On Friday, September 16, 1994, Rutledge’s son drove past his mother’s house six different times during the course of his employment. Each time his mother’s car was not parked in the driveway next to the house. Rutledge’s sister also drove past the house and noticed the car was not there.

On Saturday morning, Crownover went to Rutledge’s home to pick her up for the reunion. The car was not there, and when her mother did not answer the door, Crownover assumed that she had already left for the reunion. When she arrived at the reunion her mother was not there. She went back to her mother’s house, entered, and went upstairs to her mother’s bedroom. There she found her mother’s battered and naked body lying on the floor of the bedroom. A pool of blood was on the bed, as well as the floor area. After ascertaining that there was no pulse, she tried using the phone to call the police, but there was no dial tone. She covered her mother with a blanket and drove to the police station.

The police and an ambulance were dispatched. Once it was determined that Rutledge was dead, the police secured the scene and began a criminal investigation. Deputy Sheriff Fred W. Moeller, the crime scene investigator, determined that the door to the victim’s house had been forced open. Someone had apparently tried to enter the home through a window, because the window screen was lying on the ground outside the house, but entry was not made though the window. The phone wires on the outside of the house were cut.

No fingerprints were found in the bedroom. In Moeller’s opinion, the room had been cleaned. Other fingerprint smudges were found in the house, but never matched. There was no evidence of blood anywhere else in the house except the bedroom. Denise K. Rankin, a serologist, identified a pubic hair found at the scene as being consistent with a pubic hair obtained from appellant after his arrest.

After Moeller left the scene to return to the police station, he was notified that the victim’s car was found on North High Street in the city of Wilmington. He went to the scene, and the keys to the car were found on the floor on the driver’s side. A pink towel was on the front seat of the car, and no prints were found anywhere on the car. Moeller believed that someone had wiped down the car.

The deputy coroner testified that Rutledge died from blunt and sharp trauma to the head, neck, shoulders, and ankle. Her death also resulted from blood loss due to multiple stab wounds, one of which severed the carotid artery. The coroner was unable to determine the time of death.

When appellant and Jackson left Rutledge’s house after delivering the furniture on September 15, they purchased some crack cocaine and went to appellant’s house to smoke it. Appellant later returned the truck to the furniture store.

Jackson did not see appellant again until 1:00-1:30 a.m. the following morning when he saw him running through an alley. Jackson later saw him on Grant Street. Appellant had changed his clothes from earlier in the day when they had delivered the furniture.

Appellant asked Jackson whether he wanted to smoke some crack, showing him what Jackson thought was about $80 worth of crack. Jackson was with Tim Bart, and all three proceeded to appellant’s house. After they smoked the crack, which took a couple of hours, Bart suggested stealing some meat to trade for more crack. They were going to walk to the store, when appellant indicated he knew where there was a car they could use, but it was stolen. Appellant said the car was on North High Street. Bart and Jackson opted not to use the stolen car, and they walked to Bob and Carl’s Meat Store. Bart stole the meat, and he and appellant “took off.”

Jackson saw appellant around noon the next day, and appellant asked him to tell anyone who asked, that he (appellant) had been with Jackson from 9:00 p.m. on September 15 until 3:00 a.m. on September 16.

Later, on September 17, Timothy Shaffer found appellant playing pool at a game room in Wilmington. Appellant, Shaffer, and David Walls ended up at Shaffer’s trailer, where they smoked three to four “joints.” All three left the trailer and went to buy some crack. After the purchase, Shaffer and appellant went to appellant’s house to smoke the crack. Appellant wanted Shaffer to sign a note saying that he (Shaffer) helped in a crime committed on September 15, but Shaffer refused to sign. Appellant went and stayed at Shaffer’s trailer until September 21.

While staying with Shaffer, appellant talked with him about Rutledge’s death. Appellant asked Shaffer what he would do if he killed someone. Appellant then told him he stabbed a lady and bent the blade of the knife. He also choked her. Appellant then told Shaffer he took her car and left it in front of the Mulberry Hill Apartments. After wiping the steering wheel, he drove the car to North High Street, where he left it, and then bought about $90 worth of crack and smoked it. Appellant admitted that he went to Rutledge’s house to rob her.

On September 21, Shaffer saw a newspaper article about the Rutledge murder and asked appellant to leave his trailer. About two weeks later, Shaffer received a letter from appellant telling him that his (appellant’s) life was in Shaffer’s hands and to not tell anyone. Shaffer eventually called Colonel Tim Smith at the sheriff’s department, and turned over a pair of tennis shoes and a laundry basket belonging to appellant. Shaffer ultimately told Smith all of what appellant had said about the murder.

Appellant was arrested on September 21, 1994 on a drug charge. During the interrogation, appellant admitted that he had a crack habit, that he bought crack whenever he could, and that he would steal and trade items to buy crack. He indicated that he delivered furniture to the Rutledge residence, but when questioned about the murder, appellant asked for an attorney and questioning ceased.

The state also presented three inmates, Jerry Lee Price, Danny Smith, and Keith Jones, to testify to various statements appellant had made to them regarding the Rutledge crime while incarcerated on the drug charge. Smith’s testimony was excluded, since he failed to identify appellant in court; however, both Price and Jones testified regarding the murder.

Jones’s testimony was by far the most damaging. Appellant told Jones that he had delivered furniture to an old lady in her late 80’s. She had given appellant some money when he put the new bed together and later that night he went back to get the rest of the money he saw she had. Appellant entered through the kitchen and found Rutledge in the bedroom. Appellant told him that Rutledge called him “Jimmy,” so he “had to get rid of the bitch.” Jones asked him questions concerning the crime because Jones could not believe appellant could do such a thing to an old woman. Appellant asserted that she had lived her life, and since she could send him to prison, he had to kill her. After he took the money and the car, he went and bought crack. Appellant ran into a friend and they went and smoked it. Appellant said he killed her by himself, using a fishing tackle knife from his house. He told Jones they would never find the knife because he got rid of it. Jones wrote a letter to the prosecutor’s office, although he was not sure he believed appellant, but that he (Jones) had an elderly mother and could not think of something like that happening to her.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1520806.html

John Gillard Ohio Death Row

John Gillard was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a double murder. According to court documents John Gillard brother was involved in an argument at a house party. Later that night the brother and John Gillard would return to the house party where he would shoot and kill two people and shoot and injure another. John Gillard would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

John Gillard 2021 Information

Number A185473

DOB 11/26/1944

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 06/19/1985

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

John Gillard More News

On December 31, 1984, Timothy Hendricks held a New Year’s Eve party in his home at 213 Kennet Court, N.W., Canton. Among the guests were Ronnie Postlethwaite, Denise Maxwell, Leroy Ensign, and defendant-appellee’s brother William Gillard. During the party, there was a fight between Ensign and Gillard. After Hendricks broke up the fight, William Gillard left.

The party ended between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m., January 1. Seven guests stayed the night, including Ensign, Postlethwaite and Maxwell.

Postlethwaite and Hendricks were both awakened by a gunshot outside. Hendricks went back to sleep. Postlethwaite got up and looked outside; he saw William Gillard fire a second shot into the air from a handgun. Postlethwaite tried unsuccessfully to wake Ensign.

The next thing Postlethwaite recalled was hearing the back door slammed open. He heard heavy steps “[l]ike horses trampling” and then a shot was fired.

Someone grabbed Postlethwaite’s hair and pulled his head back. His assailant put a gun against his temple, shot him, and threw him to the floor. Postlethwaite then saw the gunman aim at Denise Maxwell’s head and fire, killing her. Postlethwaite recognized the gunman as John Gillard.

Larry Beck, a neighbor, heard two gunshots between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m. At 4:15, he heard “at least two people” going towards 213 Kennet Court. About twelve minutes later, he heard more gunshots and heard two men running away from 213 Kennet Court.

At approximately 4:50 a.m., Canton police officer Sheldon Godshall arrived. Godshall asked Postlethwaite who had shot him. Postlethwaite said, “Dirty John.” Godshall asked, “Dirty John who?” and Postlethwaite replied, “Dirty John Gillard.” Another officer found Leroy Ensign’s body lying near the entrance of the house.

On January 4, Ronald Webb, his wife, and Donald Gorby were in the kitchen of Webb’s downstairs apartment in a two-family house in Wellsburg, West Virginia, when John Gillard came to the door. Webb testified that Gorby introduced Gillard to him as “Butch Johnson.” At Gillard’s request, Mrs. Webb cut Gillard’s hair.

While Gillard was there, Milton Smith, who lived upstairs with Gorby, entered the kitchen, saw Gillard, and said: “Jesus Christ, I didn’t recognize you without the beard, Dirty John.” Smith and Gillard went upstairs. They eventually came back down to the kitchen, where Smith told Webb “ * * * to keep him there and party with him and don’t let him go nowhere, don’t take him outside that house, don’t take him to no bars.” Smith then left.

As they talked, Webb mentioned to Gillard that he had “read in the paper where his brother was in jail for shooting some people in Canton.” Gillard replied: “I pulled the trigger, my brother is taking the fall.”

Later that day, Webb had a dispute with Gillard and Gorby. Webb threatened to go “to the law,” whereupon Gillard said, “I got to get out of here.” Webb then reported Gillard’s presence to the Brooke County, West Virginia, sheriff’s office. As a result, sheriff’s deputies and Wellsburg police went to the Webb residence and arrested Gillard. Gillard identified himself to the arresting officers as “Butch Johnson.”

John Gillard was indicted for the aggravated murders of Denise Maxwell and Leroy Ensign, and for the attempted aggravated murder of Ronnie Postlethwaite. In each of these three cases, two counts were returned: one charging that the offense was committed with prior calculation and design, R.C. 2903.01(A), and one charging felony murder, R.C. 2903.01(B). Each count of aggravated murder carried two death specifications: one charging a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of two or more people, R.C. 2929.04(A)(5); and one charging murder coupled with aggravated burglary, R.C. 2929.04(A)(7). A seventh count charged Gillard with aggravated burglary, R.C. 2911.11.

Gillard’s alibi defense consisted of testimony that he and Jerri Oney had been at the home of Tracy and Melissa Price between 10:30 p.m., December 31, and 4:30 a.m., January 1, and had gone directly from there to Oney’s house. Oney and the Prices corroborated this account. Gillard admitted going to Wellsburg and meeting Webb, but denied introducing himself as “Butch Johnson” and telling Webb that he had been “the trigger man.” Gillard also denied that Mrs. Webb had cut his hair.

Gillard was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and aggravated burglary in 1985. The jury recommended death, which the trial court accepted and sentenced Gillard accordingly. In 1987, however, the Ohio Court of Appeals vacated Gillard’s convictions due to prosecutorial misconduct and the trial judge’s failure to recuse himself. See State v. Gillard, No. CA-6701, 1987 WL 5768 (Ohio Ct.App. Jan. 21, 1987). The Ohio Supreme Court subsequently reversed this decision, affirmed all of Gillard’s convictions, and remanded the matter to the Ohio Court of Appeals to independently review his sentence. See Gillard, 533 N.E.2d at 281-82. The same panel of the Ohio Court of Appeals recused itself from reviewing Gillard’s sentence. A new three-judge panel was selected and it affirmed Gillard’s death sentence. See State v. Gillard, No. CA-6701, 1990 WL 94632 (Ohio Ct.App. June 25, 1990).

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-6th-circuit/1173588.html

Kristofer Garrett Ohio Death Row

Kristofer Garrett was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for the murders of a mother and her child. According to court documents Kristofer Garrett would wait outside his ex girlfriends home and would stab her to death when she arrived home. Kristofer Garrett would then murder their four year old daughter for he believed she witnessed him kill her mother. Kristofer Garrett was sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Kristofer Garrett 2021 Information

Number A766290

DOB 05/20/1993

Gender Male Race Black

Admission Date 09/20/2019

Institution Ohio State Penitentiary

Status INCARCERATED

Kristofer Garrett More News

A Franklin County man who stabbed to death his four-year daughter and her mother has been sentenced to die.

Wednesday a judge sentenced Kristofer Garrett to die for the vicious killings.

Clifton Duckson’s life changed forever on January 5th, 2018, the day he learned his daughter Nicole Duckson, and granddaughter Kristina Duckson, had been stabbed to death.

“Nicole was my oldest daughter,” he said in court Wednesday. “(She) was also my nurse, my cook, and I probably shouldn’t say this because I’ve got more kids back there, but my most loving child. Kristina would walk in the room and light up a room. I couldn’t wait to get off work because I would pick her up from the daycare and I could not wait to hear those words, ‘Hi Paw Paw. Are we going to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal?’ Some say she was spoiled. If she was, it was my fault. Even now, Judge, as I stand here, I can’t understand why she had to die.”

Duckson attended every court hearing over the next 20 months and learned in horrifying detail what happened that day.

Kristofer Garrett, his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, waited outside her home before attacking her.

Then he chased down and stabbed their 4-year-old daughter to death, he told detectives, because she witnessed him kill her mother.

“Now having sat here and heard the evidence of the 49 stab wounds Nicole suffered while she hollered ‘I’m sorry,’ and the 33 stab wounds that Kristina also endured for just saying, ‘Daddy,’ no one deserves that much anger and rage, especially not your 4-year-old daughter. Today I stand before you and I ask for justice. Not revenge.”

Before learning his sentence, Garrett said little: “I just have it on my heart again to say to the family that I’m sorry,” he said.

He showed no reaction as the judge sentenced him to die.

“The court hereby imposes the sentence of death,” said Judge Chris Brown.

Clifton Duckson calls it justice and the start of healing.

“I’m never gonna get over the fact that they’re gone,” he said. “I live in the same residence they were killed in. So their memory is all around me. I still have bikes, I still have toys, I still have things of Kristina’s. I sleep with her blanket under my pillow every night. So for me, it doesn’t end. It makes it a little easier, but no, it’s never going to end.”

The judge set Garrett’s execution for October 10, 2019, but any death sentence carries an automatic appeal.

The court appointed an attorney to represent Garrett in that appeal.

No one from Garrett’s family spoke in court Wednesday.

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/kristofer-garrett-sentenced-death-killing-4-year-old-daughter-childs-mother-2019-sep/530-be4ea1aa-3889-4bc5-b615-d2f5ef82fe6b

Larry Gapen Ohio Death Row

Larry Gapen was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for a triple murder. According to court documents Larry Gapen would enter the home of his ex wife and murder her, 37-year-old Martha Madewell, her boyfriend and former husband, 40-year-old Nathan Marshall, and her daughter, 13-year-old Jesica Young using a maul. Larry Gapen would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Ohio Death Row Inmate List

Larry Gapen 2021 Information

Number A413724

DOB 08/23/1948

Gender Male Race White

Admission Date 07/20/2001

Institution Chillicothe Correctional Institution

Status INCARCERATED

Larry Gapen More News

During the fall of 1999, Gapen and Madewell separated, and Gapen and his son, Jimmy, moved out of the family home in Huber Heights. In March 2000, Gapen and Jimmy moved to the apartment of Charity, his daughter, who lived on Brusman Drive in Vandalia. Around June or July 2000, Madewell and her children, Jesica Young, Daniel Marshall, Billy Madewell, and Brooke Madewell, moved to Pheasant Hill Road in Dayton.

{¶ 5} On July 5, 2000, Gapen was indicted for the abduction of Madewell. According to Gapen, this incident occurred because he “wanted to talk to [Madewell] one time about the whole situation,” and “he was afraid she would just walk out on him so he tied her legs up so she couldn’t leave.”

{¶ 6} Two days before, Gapen had been released from jail on a cash bond of $10,000 and under supervision from an electronic home-detention program (“EHDP”). On July 3, 2000, Gapen received an ankle bracelet and started electronic home detention at his daughter’s apartment. On July 19, 2000, Gapen was granted work-release privileges to continue working as a truck driver for Federal Express.

{¶ 7} During August and September, Gapen remained in contact with Madewell. Gapen took Madewell and her children to the Ohio State Fair in August 2000 and attended a cookout at Madewell’s home over the Labor Day weekend, both violations of his home detention, and Madewell visited Gapen at his residence.

{¶ 8} On September 14, 2000, the marriage of Gapen and Madewell was dissolved. At dinner on Saturday, September 16, Gapen told Heather Morgan, a friend, that he was divorced but indicated that he did not want to discuss the matter. He was wearing his wedding ring. Gapen expressed hope that “after Martha had been out for a while * * * she would see that [he] was really a good thing for her and * * * they could get back together.” Around 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 17, Gapen mentioned to Morgan on the telephone that he still loved Madewell, did not understand why Madewell “didn’t want to talk” with him, and felt “she had someone else in her life.”

{¶ 9} According to Gapen, around 7:30 p.m. on September 17, he drove to Madewell’s home, entered through an unlocked back door, and announced his presence. After failing to get a response, Gapen walked through the residence and saw Madewell and an unknown man lying on a couch. Gapen said, “I didn’t let them know I was there” and “I just walked out the same way I came in.”

{¶ 10} Around 8 or 9 p.m. on September 17, Gapen met Jimmy, his son, and Kacee Miller, Jimmy’s girlfriend, at a Huber Heights restaurant. Gapen was sitting at the bar drinking a “beer and a shot of something.” According to Miller, Gapen talked about Madewell and mentioned that “he knew that Martha had a boyfriend, but he was okay with it.”

{¶ 11} Gapen returned to Madewell’s home around 12:30 a.m. on September 18, parked behind the garage, and entered through the unlocked back door. He brought a maul (also referred to as an “axe-maul”) and a pair of work gloves with him. Gapen found Madewell and Marshall “passed out on the couch” in the basement. Gapen then repeatedly struck Madewell and Marshall with the maul, and after he finished hitting them, he “had sex with Martha.”

{¶ 12} At this time, eight-year-old Brooke was sleeping in a basement bedroom and was awakened by loud banging noises and her mother’s cries. Brooke opened her bedroom door and saw a man with “a long stick that looked like an axe.” Brooke then saw that Gapen was holding the “axe” and was hitting “something.” When Gapen saw Brooke, he told her, “Go back to bed.”

{¶ 13} After this attack, Gapen went to the second-floor bedroom of Jesica. While she was asleep, Gapen struck Jesica repeatedly with the maul. Before leaving the upstairs, Gapen found seven-year-old Billy sleeping in the master bedroom. Gapen woke up Billy, took him to his car, and put him in the back seat.

{¶ 14} Gapen then returned to the basement and told Brooke to get dressed because her mother had called him to take her and Billy to school, as she needed a rest. Before leaving, Brooke went upstairs to see Jesica. As Brooke approached Jesica’s room, Gapen told her, “Don’t go in there.”

{¶ 15} Daniel, age 17, woke up at 1:51 a.m. after hearing Jesica’s cries from her adjoining bedroom. While Gapen was on the second floor, Daniel opened his bedroom door, and Gapen was standing in front of it. Gapen told Daniel that his mother “was taking care of [his] sister. She’d gotten in some trouble in her room, and he was sorry for waking [him] up.” Gapen told Daniel to “go back to sleep,” and Daniel returned to bed.

{¶ 16} Gapen then left the house with Brooke. They walked to Gapen’s car, and Brooke got into the back seat with Billy. Gapen went back inside and changed into clean clothes that he had brought with him. Gapen then returned to the car and drove off with the two children.

{¶ 17} After Gapen left, Daniel went to the basement to check on Brooke and discovered the bodies of Madewell and Marshall. Daniel then went upstairs to check on Jesica and found her “laying there with her face * * * split open, teeth * * * knocked out, [and] her braces were sticking out of her mouth. * * * [S]he was trying to talk * * * but it just wasn’t coming out.” Daniel also discovered that Brooke and Billy were gone. Daniel notified the police.

{¶ 18} Police and emergency medical personnel responding to the 911 call entered Madewell’s home and found Jesica’s battered body upstairs. Jesica was still alive and was rushed to a hospital, where she later died.

{¶ 19} Police then found Madewell’s and Marshall’s bodies in the basement. Madewell was lying on her back underneath a coffee table. Two blankets covered her entire body up to her neck, and a rug had been placed below her face. Madewell’s shirt and bra had been pulled up above her chest. Otherwise, Madewell’s body was nude, and her legs had been spread apart. Police found Marshall’s body lying on the couch with a blanket over the top half of his body.

{¶ 20} Police secured the crime scene and collected evidence from Madewell’s home. Police found a glove at the end of the basement couch that had hair intertwined in it. The matching glove was found in the kitchen.

{¶ 21} In Jesica’s room, police found Jesica’s bed, comforter, and sheets covered in blood. Five teeth were found in the folds of the bed sheets and on the floor. There were also multiple areas of “slow to medium velocity” blood spatter along the wall. Dayton Detective Gary Dunsky testified that the velocity of the spattering was consistent with the use of a maul or hammer to strike the victim.

{¶ 22} Police found a “splitting maul” in the upstairs bathroom next to Jesica’s room. The steel part of the maul was “covered completely” with blood.

{¶ 23} The police quickly determined that Gapen was their primary suspect and broadcast his name and description, as well as information about the missing children, to law enforcement agencies. For several hours after fleeing the scene, Gapen drove around the Dayton area with the two children. Gapen disposed of his bloody clothing along Interstate 75.

{¶ 24} Around 7:00 a.m. on September 18, Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Penland identified Gapen and the two children when Gapen showed up at his Brusman Drive residence. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Penland and Vandalia Patrolman Rodney Millhouse arrested Gapen. The two children were released unharmed.

{¶ 25} During his arrest, Gapen said, “I know what this is about, just take care of the kids.” Once in the police cruiser, Gapen said to Officer Millhouse, “I know what you are doing. I just wanted you to know that the kids were in the car.”

{¶ 26} Around 8:30 a.m. on September 18, Dayton Detectives Mark Salyer and William Elzholz advised Gapen of his Miranda rights and interviewed him. Gapen provided a detailed confession, which reflected the facts already described. In explaining his actions, Gapen said, “This has been building and building for months.” Madewell had been “playing him,” and he “wasn’t going to take it anymore.” Gapen said he was “not sorry” for what he had done, and this was the best he had felt in weeks. According to Gapen, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from him, and “they were not going to hurt anyone any more.”

{¶ 27} During his confession, Gapen indicated that he did not know Marshall’s identity before killing him. When asked why he killed Jesica, Gapen said that “Jesica had always disrespected him and that she would talk back to him. She would smoke in the house, drink in the house, and * * * never give him any respect * * *.” Gapen then said, “She was going to turn out just like them.” When asked why he did not attack Daniel, Gapen said, “Danny doesn’t know how lucky he is.”

{¶ 28} On September 21, the police searched Gapen’s car and found Madewell’s purse on the front passenger seat. The purse contained numerous items, including Madewell’s credit cards, her paycheck, a child-support check, and 35 cents in change. Additionally, a copy of the dissolution decree of Gapen and Madewell’s marriage was on the front passenger seat.

{¶ 29} Dr. Kent Harshbarger, Deputy Coroner for Montgomery County, performed autopsies on the three victims. Jesica suffered 17 chop wounds, five blunt-force injuries on her chest and chin, eight blunt-force injuries on her upper extremities, and two blunt-force injuries on her legs. Some of Jesica’s teeth and fragments of her braces were recovered from her stomach. Dr. Harshbarger concluded that Jesica had died from “multiple chop injuries of the head and chest.”

{¶ 30} Madewell, who was 37 years old, received “at least ten chop wounds.” According to Dr. Harshbarger, Madewell’s cause of death was “multiple chop wounds of the head.” She died a “little before two o’clock in the morning” on September 18. Dr. Harshbarger also testified that Madewell’s bra was “torn at the clasp, and * * * the fabric at the seam was * * * torn as well.”

{¶ 31} Marshall suffered 18 chop wounds, including two defensive wounds on his right arm, and he died as the result of “[m]ultiple chop injuries of the head.” Finally, Dr. Harshbarger concluded that the maul found at the crime scene could have caused the wounds suffered by all three victims.

{¶ 32} At trial, David Smith, a serologist and DNA analyst, testified that DNA testing of blood samples from the maul showed a “mixture.” However, a major component of the mixture was blood “consistent with that of Jesica Young.” Additionally, DNA testing of a blood sample from the external portion of the left-handed work glove “was a mixture. The major component was consistent with that of Martha Madewell.” However, “Jesica Young could not be excluded as a contributor to the minor component.” DNA testing of the left-glove liner “was a mixture again. Larry Gapen could not be excluded as a possible donor to this mixture.” Finally, DNA testing of the right glove indicated that Madewell or Young could be contributors.

{¶ 33} Smith also testified that DNA testing of a rectal sample taken from Madewell was a “mixture,” but the major component was from Larry Gapen. Microscopic analysis of a swab sample obtained from Madewell’s right leg revealed the presence of sperm. Additionally, both chemical and microscopic analysis of swab samples obtained from Madewell’s abdomen showed the presence of sperm. DNA testing of the sperm showed that “the DNA profile obtained from the right leg and the abdomen were consistent with that of Larry Gapen.”

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1215484.html