NEW FRANKLIN: Authorities said Thursday that Shawn Eric Ford Jr., 18, has been arrested on aggravated murder charges in the bludgeoning deaths of a prominent couple at their Portage Lakes area home Tuesday.
Ford has been identified as the boyfriend of the slain couple’s daughter, who remains hospitalized following a violent assault on her by another man less than two weeks ago.
According to Akron police records, Ford witnessed that attack.
Police announced Ford’s arrest at a news conference at New Franklin City Hall, when New Franklin police, investigators from the Akron Police Department and New Franklin city officials gave details of their investigation.
A Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office report, which was released hours earlier, stated that investigators found a sledgehammer on the bed in the couple’s bedroom, to the right of Jeffrey Schobert’s body.
Schobert, 56, was a well-known area attorney, and his wife, Margaret J. “Peg” Schobert, 59, was an active volunteer for various Summit County groups.
A construction worker found their bodies about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday and called 911.
Records show that a medical examiner’s investigator, Mike Halas, arrived at the Schobert residence on Rex Lake Drive in New Franklin at 5:09 p.m. and reported that both bodies were in the master bedroom.
He reported that Jeff Schobert was dressed in black boxer shorts. He had a “large laceration” in the center of the forehead.
Peg Schobert’s body was on the bedroom floor between the bed and a dresser. She was fully clothed, wearing a black coat, brown shirt, blue jeans and brown boots, the report said. She had suffered lacerations to the face, the area of the right eye and the forehead.
Before the slayings, according to the agency’s records, Peg Schobert spent all of Monday night at Akron Children’s Hospital. The couple’s 18-year-old daughter, Chelsea, is recovering from multiple injuries suffered in a March 23 attack on Andrus Street in Akron.
Peg Schobert arrived home at 6:05 a.m. Tuesday, and a text message was sent from her cellphone “re/boyfriend,” the records stated.
At 8 a.m., workers who have been remodeling a portion of the Schobert home arrived to continue work at the property, which provides a sprawling, scenic view of the lake to the west. They had been allowed access to the home and were unaware the Schoberts were in the residence.
At 10:20 a.m., Peg Schobert’s cellphone “pinged” a location in Akron, near Hill Street. There were no additional details about that call in the agency’s report.
Halas reported that both bodies were “cool to touch” — an indication the Schoberts had been dead for several hours before the official pronouncement of death was made at 2:39 p.m. Tuesday.
A Summa City Hospital doctor made that pronouncement of death after New Franklin emergency paramedics contacted him about 17 minutes after their arrival at the home.
Pat Gillespie, a medical examiner’s spokesman, confirmed that the cause of death in both cases was blunt-impact injuries to the head.
Suspect in custody
Ford, who has been in custody since Tuesday night, is being held in Portage County Jail on a charge of obstruction of justice. His bond was set at 10 percent of $350,000.
Another case against him is pending in Summit County, following a March 18 guilty plea to a charge of felony robbery. He was free on bond, awaiting a sentencing date scheduled for April 15.
Thursday afternoon, detectives from New Franklin and Akron signed charges against Ford for two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated burglary and grand theft in connection with the Rex Lake Drive crime.
New Franklin Detective Mike Hitchings and Akron Lt. Rick Edwards declined to release specific details about when the Schobert slayings occurred or a possible motive. They cited the ongoing investigation.
They did confirm Ford was Chelsea Schobert’s boyfriend.
Hitchings said “physical evidence in different locations” linked Ford to the crime. Money was taken from the home, and the Schoberts’ sport utility vehicle, a blue Mazda CX-9, was found abandoned in West Akron on Wednesday.
Beacon Journal staff writer Jim Carney contributed to this report. Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.