Inquest of Lunacy: The 1907 Murder of Dorothea Sindlinger

A delusional Civil War veteran claimed divine voices commanded a horrific crime.

Simon Sindlinger Jr. (1841-1915) was born in Mötzingen, Württemberg, Germany on October 28, 1841. As a young child Simon Sindlinger Jr. emigrated with his parents across the Atlantic to the United States around 1847, eventually settling in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where his father worked as a farmer. During the height of the American Civil War, Simon entered military service as a private in Company G of the 194th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Upon receiving his military discharge, he returned to rural Ohio to establish a life as a farmer and gardener. On Christmas Day in 1869, Simon married Dorothea Miller (1850-1907) in Tuscarawas County and, together, they built a household and raised children.

For decades, Simon and Dorothea lived in the farming communities of Jefferson and Warwick Townships. However, beneath the calm exterior of their rural household, a disturbing mental decline began to take hold of Simon by the early 1900s. He succumbed to severe persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations, becoming convinced that unseen enemies were conspiring to drive him from his property. Local neighbors observed his erratic behavior, though community members initially labeled him as a harmless old man. Unbeknownst to those around him, his paranoia was rapidly spiraling into a deadly state of mind.

The uneasy quiet was shattered on the morning of January 8, 1907, at their residence in Warwick Township. While Dorothea lay sleeping peacefully in her bed, Simon retrieved a gun and fired two fatal shots, ending Dorothea’s life instantly. In the immediate aftermath of the horrific crime, Simon expressed intense remorse to those who arrived, confessing his action. Yet, in a chilling explanation of his motive, he claimed he had acted under a direct command from God.

Word of the tragedy spread swiftly across the county, prompting the county sheriff to apprehend Simon and lock him in a cell at the county jail. The county coroner arrived at the scene to investigate the crime and confirm the fatal cause of death for Dorothea Miller. Later that same day, the probate judge convened an urgent inquest of lunacy inside the county jail, taking testimony from a medical witness and examining the prisoner directly. The probate judge officially declared Simon Sindlinger Jr. insane and ordered him committed to the Massillon State Hospital.

Legal proceedings continued as the probate judge formally appointed his son to serve as legal guardian over the person and estate of Simon Sindlinger Jr. Under a heavy financial bond, his son took control of the family property while Simon was removed from the community and locked away in the asylum. By the time federal census enumerators visited the institution in April 1910, Simon Sindlinger Jr. was recorded as an inmate living behind institutional walls. Confined away from his former home, Simon Sindlinger Jr. spent his remaining years under state care as his physical health began to fail.

In his final months, the aging prisoner suffered from severe physical deterioration, battling heart disease and dropsy. Simon Sindlinger Jr. passed away on June 11, 1915, at the age of seventy-three. Following funeral services held at the residence of his daughter, Simon Sindlinger Jr. was buried in the local Lutheran cemetery in Tuscarawas, Ohio. There, in final repose, Simon Sindlinger Jr. was laid to rest beside Dorothea Miller, bringing a permanent close to a tragic family history.

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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.