The Newcomerstown community was shaken by a local painter’s violent outburst that fatally injured his wife.
Content warning: The following story contains references to domestic violence. If you are experiencing domestic abuse or violence and need help, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Born in Grand Haven, Michigan, June Woods Stoffer (1919-1959) grew up in New Jersey and Ohio before she married Newcomerstown native Darrell Stoffer (1914-1968) in Wheeling, West Virginia, in November 1937. While June built a respectable life as a dedicated mother and active church member in Newcomerstown, Darrell developed a dark, escalating pattern of alcohol abuse and run-ins with the law. Prior to 1959, Darrell was repeatedly arrested and convicted for driving while intoxicated, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct.
On the afternoon of June 20, 1959, Darrell embarked on a heavy drinking binge at a local club, where the bartender eventually refused him further service for disturbing patrons. Driven to his home on West Church Street by a former resident, Darrell stormed into the living room enraged that his son had taken the family automobile, knocking over and shattering a floor lamp in the process. When June rose from the couch to help clean the broken glass, Darrell Stoffer violently shoved her, sending her flying into a coffee table where she crouched in excruciating pain. Rushed to the hospital, June underwent emergency surgery where the chief of surgery removed her severely lacerated spleen and drained over a pint of blood from her abdomen. Despite surgical intervention, a fatal chain reaction set in, and June Woods Stoffer died of post-operative pneumonia on June 23, 1959.
June Woods recorded on the 1930 census, staying with her aunt and uncle in Plainfield, Coshocton County, Ohio. (Source: familysearch.org) 
Darrell Stoffer’s senior yearbook photo from Newcomerstown High School, 1932. (Source: ancestry.com) 
Detail from the marriage record of June Woods and Darrell Stoffer, November 1937. (Source: wvculture.org) 
One of numerous newspaper reports of Darrell Stoffer being arrested for intoxication or being disorderly, July 1952. (Source: newspapers.com) 
Location of the Stoffer home on West Church Street, Newcomerstown, Ohio. (Source: loc.gov)
An autopsy conducted at a nearby hospital confirmed that external blunt force trauma had ruptured June’s spleen. On June 26, 1959, immediately following June’s funeral service, the village police chief arrested Darrell Stoffer. Under interrogation by police and the county prosecutor, Darrell signed a statement admitting he had shoved June during the altercation. Released on bond, Darrell was formally indicted for first-degree manslaughter by a county grand jury in September 1959.
It was not until March 1960 that the criminal proceedings began and Darrell Stoffer waived his right to a jury trial, and placed his fate in the hands of a judge. During the three-day trial, prosecutors presented medical testimony from the chief of surgery at the hospital that treated June and a Columbus pathologist, who affirmed that only external blunt force could have torn June’s healthy spleen. Taking the stand, Darrell claimed he had merely “touched” June with slight pressure to instruct her to rest. The defense attorney countered with medical witnesses regarding June’s past history of rheumatic fever to argue that pre-existing organic weakness caused her death, but on April 7, 1960, the judge found Darrell Stoffer guilty of first-degree manslaughter.
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper headline on Darrell Stoffer’s arrest, June 1959. (Source: newspapers.com) 
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper article on Darrell Stoffer’s indictment, September 1959. (Source: newspapers.com) 
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper article on Darrell Stoffer’s testimony during his trial, March 1960. (Source: newspapers.com) 
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper article on Darrell Stoffer’s sentencing, May 1960. (Source: newspapers.com)
While awaiting sentencing in May 1960, Darrell Stoffer demonstrated his persistent volatility when he was arrested once again for public intoxication following neighbor complaints about early morning disturbances at his home. Days later, the judge sentenced Darrell Stoffer to serve an indeterminate term of one to twenty years in the Ohio Penitentiary. The defense attorney appealed the conviction to the fifth district court of appeals, citing alleged hearsay errors regarding a neighbor’s testimony and questioning the prosecutor’s commission, but the appellate court rejected his arguments and affirmed the conviction in December 1960.
After serving just two years in prison, Darrell Stoffer was granted parole by the state pardon and parole commission in May 1962. He returned to Newcomerstown to work as a painting contractor, and quickly relapsed into his alcohol-fueled behaviour, receiving a drunk driving conviction in August 1964 where he served out his fine by painting jail cells. Following a driver’s license suspension and another intoxication arrest in March 1965, Darrell Stoffer’s life came to an abrupt end on April 27, 1968, when he suffered a fatal heart attack at age fifty-three. He was buried in West Lawn Cemetery, closing the dark saga nine years after the fatal assault on June Woods Stoffer.
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper article on Darrell Stoffer’s parole, April 1962. (Source: newspapers.com) 
New Philadelphia, Ohio newspaper article on Darrell Stoffer’s arrest for drunk driving, August 1964. (Source: newspapers.com) 
Modern view of the Stoffer home on West Church Street, 2025. (Source: google.com) 
June Woods Stoffer was laid to rest in East State Street Cemetery in Newcomerstown, Ohio. (Source; google)
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© Noel B. Poirier, 2026.
