78-year-old man charged with assisting in wife’s suicide

YELLOW SPRINGS — A 78-year-old man is facing charges in connection to the death of his wife but has not been charged with murder.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6, Thomas Macaulay is being charged in Greene County Common Pleas Court with assisted suicide after the death of his 75-year-old wife.

Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes said assisting suicide can be an illegal, criminal act in Ohio in two ways.

First, to provide the physical means by which a person commits suicide — second, participating in a physical act by which the person commits suicide.

News Center 7 obtained the police report from the Yellow Springs Police Department.

It describes officers being called to a home in Yellow Springs Adult Living Community on March 28.

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Macaulay told dispatchers his wife “had passed away.”

Dispatch then advised that Thomas was now stating this was a “Nitrogen induced suicide”

Officers discovered Macaulay’s wife “On a LazyBoy type recliner with an inflated, translucent clothing bag over her head, connected to an air tank.”

She was identified in a Remembrance of Life article in a local news outlet, The Yellow Springs News, as Ardis Macaulay, 75.

Neither the article nor the police report discuss details of Ardis’ health conditions.

Hayes said everyone is sensitive and sympathetic to difficult end-of-life situations, but his job demands that potential crimes be tried.

“As I’ve described it, assisting suicide is a crime in the state of Ohio,” he said.

Thomas is not in jail while his case moves forward.

News Center 7 learned he has hired criminal defense lawyer Jon Paul.

Thomas’ next scheduled court hearing is set for early September.

News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.

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