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A disabled toddler and his grandparents were found shot dead in their Ohio home in an apparent murder-suicide after police received a chilling 911 call from a voice softly pleading “help,” officials said.
Gale Sanders, 67, Melissa Campbell, 51, and their 22-month-old grandson Kozza Lotut, were found dead in their home in Gnadenhutten, a small town south of Canton, on Wednesday, according to WOIO.
All three had suffered gunshot wounds and a firearm was recovered next to one of the victims, according to Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell.
“If I had to say the evidence was leaning one way, it’s definitely leaning towards a murder-suicide,” said the sheriff, without identifying who the suspected shooter was.
Police discovered the bodies after they frantically tried to trace the location of a 911 call during which “it appears a voice softly says the word ‘help,’” according to the sheriff’s office.
Emergency dispatchers first received a call around 4:17 a.m., but the call almost immediately disconnected before they were able to track where it came from, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Dispatchers made several calls back — with the pleas for help heard on one.
Police traced the phone to its original owner, who told them it was a spare that he had lent out to an associate.
Cops eventually learned the phone was at the N. Cherry Street home. Police arrived at the home and were greeted by a family member already there who let them inside and showed them the three dead.
The bodies have been transported to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies to determine an official cause of death.
Sanders and Campbell were the little Kozza’s grandparents, who often helped care for his medical disabilities, the sheriff said.