02-05-2011, 09:43 AM
Toledo Blade this morning, Saturday:
Investigators said Friday they believe the slaying of a young couple inside a Springfield Township home this week was "a robbery gone bad."
Cathy Stooksbury, a detective with the Lucas County Sheriff's Office, would not comment on what, if anything, was stolen from the home but said it appeared someone had gone through things in the house, searching for something.
Killed were Lisa Straub, 20, whose parents — Jeff and Mary Beth Straub — own the Longacre Lane home, and Miss Straub's boyfriend, Johnny S. Clarke, 21, who had been living with the Straubs. Both were asphyxiated with plastic bags tied around their necks.
According to a search warrant filed by detectives in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Clarke's wrists and ankles were bound with duct tape, while Ms. Straub's wrists were bound with duct tape.
Investigators seized a variety of items from the home after the victims' bodies were found about 3:50 a.m. Monday — cell phones, wallets, articles of clothing, computers, and other items from which they hoped to lift fingerprints.
Detective Stooksbury said FBI agents were assisting the sheriff's office with the investigation.
"They offered their help, and we gladly accepted," she said.
"They're offering assistance with cell phone records and things like that, which they can get much more quickly than we can."
In a series of 911 calls placed by Clarke's mother, Maytee Vasquez-Clarke, between 1:21 a.m. and 3:50 a.m. Monday, Mrs. Vasquez-Clarke told the dispatcher she feared her son was in danger because a friend of both her son's and his girlfriend said she had been talking with Clarke about 11 p.m. Sunday when she heard him say to an unknown person, "Who are you? What do you want? What are you �doing here?"
Neither the friend nor his mother was able to reach Clarke or Ms. Straub on their cell phones after that.
Deputies were sent to the Straub home, but officers said they saw nothing out of the ordinary and did not feel they had cause to break into the house.
Later, Clarke's father, John P. Clarke, boosted a family member up to look in a window and she saw the bodies. Mr. Clarke then kicked in the front door and found the bodies.
Investigators spent the week looking into the victims' lives and talking with people who knew them to try to find out who murdered them so brutally.
Among the things they are considering, Detective Stooksbury said, is the time Clarke spent in prison for convictions in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on two counts of robbery.
"We're following up every aspect of both of these young people's lives and in that we are looking at his prison history and seeing if he had any problems while he was in prison or anyone connected with that who has been released from prison just as a process of elimination," Detective Stooksbury said.
Clarke was arrested, along with Daniel St. Clair and Quintwez Sanders, in 2007 for robbing two men at gunpoint in two separate incidents in Toledo when Clarke was 18.
In January, 2008, Clarke pleaded no contest to two reduced charges of robbery, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Denise Dartt.
In June, 2009, Judge Dartt granted Clarke's motion for early release and placed him on community control — or probation — for three years. St. Clair also was released early from prison, while Sanders, who was sentenced to six years in prison because he was carrying the gun, remains in prison.
Detective Stooksbury said the attack on Clarke and Ms. Straub has shaken the community.
"You see a homicide like this and everybody is quite alarmed that two young people died in such an awful way," she said.
Investigators said Friday they believe the slaying of a young couple inside a Springfield Township home this week was "a robbery gone bad."
Cathy Stooksbury, a detective with the Lucas County Sheriff's Office, would not comment on what, if anything, was stolen from the home but said it appeared someone had gone through things in the house, searching for something.
Killed were Lisa Straub, 20, whose parents — Jeff and Mary Beth Straub — own the Longacre Lane home, and Miss Straub's boyfriend, Johnny S. Clarke, 21, who had been living with the Straubs. Both were asphyxiated with plastic bags tied around their necks.
According to a search warrant filed by detectives in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Clarke's wrists and ankles were bound with duct tape, while Ms. Straub's wrists were bound with duct tape.
Investigators seized a variety of items from the home after the victims' bodies were found about 3:50 a.m. Monday — cell phones, wallets, articles of clothing, computers, and other items from which they hoped to lift fingerprints.
Detective Stooksbury said FBI agents were assisting the sheriff's office with the investigation.
"They offered their help, and we gladly accepted," she said.
"They're offering assistance with cell phone records and things like that, which they can get much more quickly than we can."
In a series of 911 calls placed by Clarke's mother, Maytee Vasquez-Clarke, between 1:21 a.m. and 3:50 a.m. Monday, Mrs. Vasquez-Clarke told the dispatcher she feared her son was in danger because a friend of both her son's and his girlfriend said she had been talking with Clarke about 11 p.m. Sunday when she heard him say to an unknown person, "Who are you? What do you want? What are you �doing here?"
Neither the friend nor his mother was able to reach Clarke or Ms. Straub on their cell phones after that.
Deputies were sent to the Straub home, but officers said they saw nothing out of the ordinary and did not feel they had cause to break into the house.
Later, Clarke's father, John P. Clarke, boosted a family member up to look in a window and she saw the bodies. Mr. Clarke then kicked in the front door and found the bodies.
Investigators spent the week looking into the victims' lives and talking with people who knew them to try to find out who murdered them so brutally.
Among the things they are considering, Detective Stooksbury said, is the time Clarke spent in prison for convictions in Lucas County Common Pleas Court on two counts of robbery.
"We're following up every aspect of both of these young people's lives and in that we are looking at his prison history and seeing if he had any problems while he was in prison or anyone connected with that who has been released from prison just as a process of elimination," Detective Stooksbury said.
Clarke was arrested, along with Daniel St. Clair and Quintwez Sanders, in 2007 for robbing two men at gunpoint in two separate incidents in Toledo when Clarke was 18.
In January, 2008, Clarke pleaded no contest to two reduced charges of robbery, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced to three years in prison by Judge Denise Dartt.
In June, 2009, Judge Dartt granted Clarke's motion for early release and placed him on community control — or probation — for three years. St. Clair also was released early from prison, while Sanders, who was sentenced to six years in prison because he was carrying the gun, remains in prison.
Detective Stooksbury said the attack on Clarke and Ms. Straub has shaken the community.
"You see a homicide like this and everybody is quite alarmed that two young people died in such an awful way," she said.