Police came across a troubling scene when a family of five were found deceased in their Ohio home on Thursday night.
Officers in Uniontown (a town less than 20 miles from Akron) responded to a wellness check at a family home just after 7:30 p.m.
Uniontown Police Chief Michael Batchik said, “One of Melissa Dunham’s coworkers asked police to check on her because she had not heard from Melissa in two days.”
Upon arrival, officers reported they discovered five victims inside the home. Police determined that the violence was an act of a domestic dispute that turned deadly.
The police department, along with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the coroner’s office and the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office, are investigating the incident as a quadruple homicide, suicide.
Henry Campbell, the chief investigator for the coroner’s office, identified the victims as Jason Dunham, 46, Melissa Dunham, 42, and their children Renee, 15, Amber, 12, and Evan, 9.
Campbell also confirmed that the victims all died from gunshot wounds. At 9:52 p.m. they were all pronounced deceased.
Batchik said, “Jason Dunham’s handgun was used in the shooting, but it was not known as of Friday afternoon who fired the shots. Jason and Melissa Dunham both had permits to carry concealed weapons.”
Neighbors Edmond Gadzacko and his wife Denise also identified the victims as Jason and Melissa Dunham and their three children.
Denise said, “Melissa was a wonderful mother and Jason was a nice man, but could be controlling.”
“Their three children were involved in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. They even played with my grandchildren when they visited,” Edmond said.
Another neighbor, Rebecca Gyoker, said, “Melissa always seemed like a really, really, really sweet person. My favorite part of the kids was they were kids. They were always outside playing with the scooters and basketball, and just what kids should do. You don’t see that stuff nowadays. They were always outside and playing and just living life.”
The superintendent of the school district, Kevin Tobin, released a statement confirming that three Lake Local School District students had died.
“We alerted our parents and our staff (about the tragedy),” Tobin said. “And we have counselors and others meeting (with kids) as we speak. We are working through this as calm and compassionate as we can.”
Tobin said the eldest daughter, Renee, was very involved in the school’s band, which was scheduled to attend and perform at a football game on Friday night.
“This is going to impact them. They are a family and it is almost two years to the day when we lost another band student after surgery,” Tobin said, per the Repository. “It’s a very, very tragic incident and we will just rally as a school community and as Lake Local community.”
Melissa Dunham was a partner at an accounting firm in Fairlawn, Ohio, according to her LinkedIn page. She had just been appointed as a partner in June, the firm, Bober Markey Fedorovich & Co., announced. Dunham had spent nearly two decades at the company and specialized in corporate tax returns.
Jason Dunham worked in sales and business development at POS Highway in Hartville, Ohio, according to his LinkedIn.
The Uniontown Police Department is still investigating the incident.
