A 22-month-old child with medical disabilities and his two grandparents were found fatally shot inside their Ohio home in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide. Police were led to the scene after receiving a disturbing 911 call in which a voice appeared to softly plead, “help,” officials said.
Gale Sanders, 67, Melissa Campbell, 51, and their grandson, Kozza Lotut, were discovered dead Wednesday at the family’s home in Gnadenhutten, a small community south of Canton, according to WOIO.
The Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office said all three victims had suffered gunshot wounds. A firearm was found near one of the bodies, Sheriff Orvis Campbell said.
“If I had to say the evidence was leaning one way, it’s definitely leaning towards a murder-suicide,” the sheriff said. He did not identify the person investigators believe may have been the shooter.
Deputies located the victims after working urgently to trace a 911 call. According to the sheriff’s office, a voice could be heard on the line appearing to quietly say the word “help.”
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The emergency call came in at approximately 4:17 a.m. Wednesday but disconnected almost immediately, before dispatchers could determine its location, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Dispatchers called the number back several times, and one of those return calls captured what sounded like pleas for help.
Investigators traced the phone to its original owner. He told police that the device was a spare phone he had loaned to an associate.
Police eventually determined that the phone was at the home on N. Cherry Street. When officers arrived, a family member was already at the residence. That person let them inside and directed them to the three victims.
The bodies were taken to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, where autopsies will be conducted to establish the official causes of death.
Sanders and Campbell were Kozza’s grandparents and frequently helped care for the toddler, who had medical disabilities, Sheriff Campbell said.
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