Two elderly people found shot to death in Stark farmhouse

Associated Press

CANTON

Two elderly people have been found shot to death inside a farmhouse.

The bodies of Helen Dobransky, 97, and her caregiver, Kenneth Bittinger, 83, were discovered by Stark County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday evening in rural Osnaburg Township about 10 miles east of Canton.

A couple who had stopped by to pay their rent became worried and called 911 when no one answered the door at the house.

Sheriff George Maier said on Thursday that deputies found the bodies in separate rooms and that evidence showed the victims were shot multiple times. Autopsy results were unavailable Thursday.

There were no signs of forced entry at the home.

Maier said it was unclear whether a robbery had occurred, but he added that it was a possibility.

“We haven’t pieced this together yet,” he said.

Maier said violent crime was out of the ordinary for that rural portion of Stark County, and he called the slayings “horrific.”