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Schoenike returns home
By JOE GORMAN
NEW SPRINGFIELD
The family of a Springfield Local Board of Education member and attorney who returned home Wednesday will be seeking medical tests to determine what sort of condition may have led to his disappearance over the weekend.
Lynn Maro, wife of Jonathan Schoenike, said she and her two daughters also returned from Wisconsin, where Schoenike was found Sunday evening after he notified his wife by phone where he was while police were at her home questioning her.
She said she’s doing well and so are her daughters. She said she was very thankful for the people who helped to search for her husband and who had vigils for him. She said the fact so many searched and prayed for her husband speaks highly of his character.
“As I’ve said before, he is an amazing man,” Maro said.
Maro said she did not want to speculate on what may have caused her husband to disappear until he undergoes testing.
In a statement released Tuesday, the family said Schoenike cannot remember changing his clothes after his wife left for court at 9 a.m. Friday, and he barely remembers leaving home.
He also does not remember how he got to Wisconsin but he was able to call home Sunday evening and tell his wife he needed help. The family has said Schoenike called home because he heard people praying for him.
The family flew to Wisconsin to see him. Schoenike stayed with a relative while awaiting his family’s arrival. While there, preliminary tests found that Schoenike had had a minor stroke and lesion on his spine that had previously been undiscovered.
The family said they are not sure if those symptoms led to his disappearance and that more tests here are scheduled.
Schoenike had been diagnosed in the past with high blood pressure and was on medication, which he took that morning, his family said.
His family first became concerned about Schoenike on Friday afternoon after his vehicle was found on West Boulevard in Boardman with his cellphone and wallet inside. Searches were organized; vigils took place for his safe return.
The family said they want to answer as many questions as they can about Schoenike’s condition because of the interest shown by the community, but that has to be balanced out with his health and the family’s privacy.