A 22-month-old child and his two grandparents have been identified as the three people found fatally shot inside an Ohio home after a haunting 911 call in which a dispatcher reportedly heard someone quietly say, “help.”
The victims were named Thursday as Melissa E. Campbell, 51, Gale F. Sanders, 67, and toddler Kozzar J. Lotut. Deputies found their bodies Wednesday at a residence in Gnadenhutten, a small village south of Canton.
The Tuscarawas County Coroner’s Office said all three victims had sustained gunshot wounds.
Authorities are working to reconstruct the events that unfolded inside the home before the deadly discovery.
The investigation began after an unusual emergency call placed shortly after 4 a.m. The connection ended before dispatchers could determine the caller’s location.
When operators called the number back, they reportedly heard what sounded like a quiet request for help.
The Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office said one dispatcher heard a “voice softly saying the word ‘help.’”
That disturbing detail triggered an urgent search for the caller and ultimately directed deputies to the Ohio residence, where they found the three victims.
Melissa E. Campbell, 51, was one of three people found dead inside an Ohio home after a mysterious 911 call led deputies to the property
Deputies discovered the body of 22-month-old Kozzar J. Lotut at a Tuscarawas County residence after authorities received a troubling 911 call
Investigators are considering the possibility that the case was a murder-suicide, but officials have not said who fired the shots or what may have led to the violence.
A firearm was found next to one of the bodies. The sheriff told Cleveland 19 that the evidence collected so far was consistent with a murder-suicide.
Even so, the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain unclear, and authorities have not publicly named a suspected shooter.
The tragedy has deeply shaken the close-knit rural community of Gnadenhutten.
The sheriff’s office said the first warning came just after 4 a.m. Wednesday, when emergency dispatchers received the troubling call.
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The 911 connection was severed almost as soon as it began.
Because the caller never gave an address, dispatchers initially had no clear way to identify where assistance was needed.
Investigators later reached the person listed as the phone’s owner, who said he had loaned the device to someone else.
Police tape marks the Ohio home where deputies made the grim discovery after a mystery 911 caller was heard softly saying “help”
The life of 22-month-old Kozzar J. Lotut ended tragically after he was found dead inside a home in the quiet Ohio village of Gnadenhutten
Campbell, 51, was identified by authorities as one of the victims in the mysterious triple death investigation that has rocked the small Ohio community
Three people were found dead at the modest Ohio home after deputies traced a 911 call there
That information led deputies to examine several possible addresses as they worked to narrow down the phone’s location with their search ultimately bringing them to the property in Gnadenhutten.
A family member was already at the scene when law enforcement arrived and allowed deputies to enter the home, according to the sheriff’s office.
Once inside, officers discovered the bodies of two adults and a young child.
The coroner’s office confirmed their identities as little Kozzar, who was just 22 months while Campbell and Sanders were his grandparents, who had played an important role in looking after the little boy.
The pair frequently helped care for Kozzar because he had medical disabilities.
It also remains unclear exactly when the shootings occurred in relation to the initial 911 call, or whether the faint plea for assistance came from one of the three people subsequently discovered dead.
The sheriff has indicated that investigators are examining the possibility that one of the deaths was self-inflicted and the others were homicides.