A disabled toddler and his two grandparents were found shot dead in their Ohio home after a mysterious 911 caller softly whispered “help,” authorities confirmed.
Gale Sanders, 67, Melissa Campbell, 51, and their 22-month-old grandson Kozza Lotut were discovered Wednesday in Gnadenhutten, a small town south of Canton, according to the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office. All three had suffered fatal gunshot wounds.
Sheriff Orvis Campbell told WOIO that investigators recovered a firearm next to one of the victims. “If I had to say the evidence was leaning one way, it’s definitely leaning towards a murder-suicide,” he said. The sheriff did not identify which of the adults was believed to have pulled the trigger.
The case began with a chilling early morning emergency call. Dispatchers received the 911 connection at approximately 4:17 a.m., but the line almost immediately disconnected before they could pinpoint its origin, according to the sheriff’s office.
When dispatchers attempted to call back, they reached the phone again. On one of those return calls, “it appears a voice softly says the word ‘help,'” the sheriff’s office stated.
The phone’s original owner told police he had lent the device as a spare to an associate, complicating the initial trace. Investigators eventually determined the signal was coming from the N. Cherry Street residence where the three bodies were later found.
A family member was already at the home when police arrived and let officers inside, directing them to where Sanders, Campbell, and the toddler lay dead.
Sanders and Campbell regularly helped care for Kozza and his medical disabilities, the sheriff said. The grandparents’ role in supporting the young boy’s health needs underscored the devastating loss of three generations in a single violent event.
The bodies have been transported to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies to determine official causes of death. The medical examiner’s findings could help clarify the sequence of events and confirm whether the gunshot wounds were self-inflicted or inflicted by another party.
The whispered plea for assistance captured on the return call has become a haunting detail in a case that has drawn national attention for its combination of mystery and tragedy. Investigators have not disclosed whether any additional evidence, such as a note or prior domestic reports, contributed to the murder-suicide theory.
The sheriff’s cautious framing of the evidence leaves open the possibility of further revelations as forensic testing proceeds.