DAYTON — UPDATE @ 2:38 p.m.:
A Montgomery County grand jury has indicted Stephen Marlow on over two dozen charges connected to the shooting and killing of four people in Butler Twp. earlier this year.
>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Several more charges filed against man accused of killing 4 in Butler Twp.
Marlow, 39, was indicted on several charges including 12 counts of aggravated murder for the killings of Clyde and Eva Knox, and Sarah and Kayla Anderson, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck said during a news conference Thursday. He also faces eight counts of aggravated burglary and one count each of having weapons while under disability and tampering with evidence.
The charges Marlow is facing, in addition to three Aggravating Circumstance Specifications attached to each aggravated murder count, makes him eligible for the death penalty, Heck said.
“The death penalty is not something we ask for in many cases at all. The death penalty should be reserved for the most horrific and shocking crimes. This case certainly meets that criteria,” Heck said.
The last time that the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office sought the death penalty was in 2017.
Heck said that he anticipates that Marlow and his attorney will file motions regarding his competency ahead of a trial.
“There’s also the possibility of filing for what’s called a ‘serious mental illness,’ they could file for that. That’s new under Ohio law. This could be one of the first in the state of Ohio, as a matter of fact,” he said.
>> Affidavit: Butler Twp. shooting suspect believed neighbors were ‘sleeper cell terrorists’
If someone is found to be suffering with a “serious mental illness,” then the death penalty would be off the table.
At this time, Heck said a psychological evaluation has not been conducted on Marlow.
“We believe from all indications that of his past that he is competent and sane,” Heck said.
Heck released new details about the shooting when announcing the indictment. He revealed that Sarah Anderson, 42, had just returned home on Hardwicke Place from grocery shopping when Marlow allegedly shot her in her garage. He then went inside the house and shot 15-year-old Kayla Anderson while she was on the phone with a friend.
Marlow then went to the Knox residence, also on Hardwicke Place, and shot Eva “Sally” Knox, 79, in the doorway of a detached garage, and Cylde Knox, 82, as he sat in a lawn chair.
After a nationwide manhunt, he was taken into custody by police in Lawrence, Kansas just over 24 hours after the shooting.
During the search of Marlow’s property following the shooting, investigators found a computer and a document talking about conspiracy theories. Documents indicated that Marlow believed his neighbors were almost all “sleeper cell terrorists,” according to an affidavit and statement of facts.
In an amended complaint against Marlow, a detective revealed that Marlow owned a storage unit on North Dixie Drive.
“Surveillance video showed Stephen entered the property on the day of the incident at 11:12 a.m.; he exited at 11:27 a.m.; just minutes before the murders,” according to the affidavit and statement of facts.
>> PHOTOS: 4 killed after shooting in Butler Twp. neighborhood
When detectives executed a search warrant on the storage unite and found an empty soft gun case that would normally hold an AR-15 style rifle, handgun and riffle ammunition and some writings on warfare.
Marlow was not allowed to have a firearm because of a prior charge, but he told FBI officials interviewing him that he “deliberately circumvented that by traveling to Kentucky and meeting a private seller to obtain the firearms.”
He admitted to buying the firearm to “carry out his attack,” the affidavit read.
A detective wrote that when Marlow was being extradited back to Ohio from Kansas, he said the killings were an act of self-defense to protect his family and for “exposure.”
Heck sent his condolences to the families of the victims, who he spoke with before officially going for the death penalty.
“Its hell on earth to be a survivor and a survivor of a victim who’s been brutally killed like this,” Heck said.
Since being brought back to Ohio, Marlow has been held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $10 million bond.
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