Inset left: Jonathan Schmidt (Lucas County Corrections Center). Inset right: Marcia Van Druten (GoFundMe). Background: The neighborhood where the death occurred in Sylvania, Ohio (WTOL/YouTube).
A man in Ohio is accused of breaking into his mother-in-law's home with a crowbar and then beating her to death as his divorce played out with her daughter.
Jonathan Schmidt, 35, is charged with aggravated murder in the death of 68-year-old Marcia Van Druten, Lucas County jail records show. He was booked into the Lucas County Corrections Center on Friday.
On Wednesday at about 9 p.m., Van Druten and her husband were at their home on Fox Hollow Court in Sylvania, a city of some 20,000 in the Toledo metropolitan area. Schmidt was on his way to their home — allegedly with violent intentions in mind.
"One of Jon's friends reached out to Kinsey saying they had received a message from Jon saying he was going to hurt her mom," Emily Hayman, a friend of the daughter, told Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG. "And that terrified Kinsey, so Kinsey tried calling her mom multiple times and when her mom didn't answer, she got scared and called her dad. The phone was next to him so he heard the phone. He went downstairs and found her."
Schmidt had allegedly broken into Van Druten's home by shattering the sliding glass doors with a crowbar. While Van Druten's husband slept upstairs, Schmidt reportedly beat the woman to death.
Hayman's part in the story began when she said her friend — Schmidt's wife — called her panicked.
"She said he killed my mom. He killed my mom. And at that point I was already on the way to her house," she said.
Authorities responded to the home, and Van Druten was pronounced dead. The Lucas County Coroner's Office performed an autopsy on her body, listing her cause of death as multiple blunt force trauma as a result of homicide.
The suspect had fled the area, but he was reportedly arrested the following morning in La Salle, Michigan, about 25 miles northeast.
Schmidt and his wife have a 1-year-old son who was born prematurely when the couple were on their honeymoon about 15 months ago, WTVG reported. At some point, Schmidt filed for divorce from his wife and the proceedings became contentious.
A custody dispute between the parents ensued, and subpoenas were issued to their family members, such as Van Druten, according to area CBS affiliate WTOL. The couple were also reportedly feuding over child and spousal support payments that Schmidt was making.
A GoFundMe set up by Hayman for her friend reads: "Her mother, who she deeply loved, was killed in a way no one can prepare for, leaving behind grief that is sudden, overwhelming, and impossible to put into words." The fundraiser adds that her friend now has to raise her child "without the support she should have had, while carrying a weight no one should have to bear."
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