He Was Set to Marry Her Girl. Now, a Murder Charge

Ohio's Jeffrey Scullin Jr. is accused of killing his future mother-in-law, Melinda Pleskovic
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 3, 2017 9:10 AM CDT
He Called 911, Is Now Charged With Killing Fiancee's Mom
Jeffrey Scullin Jr.   (Strongsville Police Department, via WOIO)

A 911 caller in Ohio who told the dispatcher "there's a lot of blood" after he came across the body of his future mother-in-law is now being accused of her murder. "Jeffery William Scullin Jr. has been charged with aggravated murder," Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, which WOIO notes took place eight days after the killing of 49-year-old Melinda Pleskovic. Scullin, 20, was engaged to Pleskovic's daughter and lived in the Pleskovic home. People reports he arrived at the home with Pleskovic's husband, Bruce, on Oct. 23 to find the sixth-grade teacher's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She'd been shot and stabbed several times.

Bruce Pleskovic told a 911 dispatcher there'd been recent break-ins at their home, but cops say he may have thought that based on info fed to him by Scullin. Scullin, who made a separate 911 call, told the dispatcher it didn't look like anyone had broken in. He says he grabbed his own daughter and Pleskovic's son—WKYC notes the 18-year-old has Down syndrome—and went outside without surveying the scene more carefully. Scullin was set to marry Pleskovic's daughter on the Saturday after the slaying, but instead he was said to have served as a pallbearer at her funeral. Per court records cited by WKYC, a knife with Pleskovic's blood was found in Scullin's pickup truck, among other evidence. Scullin is being held on a $1 million bond. (This man killed his mom and two brothers weeks before his planned wedding.)

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