murderers – Tuscarawas County Stories

Indicted but Never Convicted: The Murder of Antonio Di Simone

AI generated image depicting the victim and suspects walking down the road together in November 1919, 2025. (Source: ImageFX)

In 1919, Italian immigrant Antonio Di Simone was murdered near Dennison, Ohio—two suspects were arrested, but justice never came. I have chosen to use the surname Di Simone as opposed to the others that appear in the historical record. It was the surname under which Antonio Di Simone was buried by his friends and itContinue reading “Indicted but Never Convicted: The Murder of Antonio Di Simone”

Murder on the Wheeling & Lake Erie

AI generated image depicting the scene of Tony Gerriod lying on the ground outside the boxcar where he was killed in September 1911, 2025. (Source: ImageFX)

The 1911 murder of Tony Gerriod remains a mystery in Tuscarawas County history. Tony Gerriod’s surname was spelled a number of ways in the newspaper including Geraid and Gerald. I have chosen the spelling that appeared on the only legal document associated with him, his death certificate. His nationality is also vague, sometimes reported asContinue reading “Murder on the Wheeling & Lake Erie”

No Justice for Mary Cirillo Shundry

AI generated image depicting investigators searching the area outside the Shundry home looking for the killers' trail, 2025. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

On Thanksgiving Eve 1932, a young mother’s life was violently ended in a rural Tuscarawas County boarding house. Mary Marie Solvey (1907-1932) was born in, 1907 in Coshocton County, Ohio, to Sicilian immigrants Francesco “Frank” Argento (1877-1953) and Rosa “Rose” Mercurio Argento (1879-1921). Her parents married in Sicily in 1903 and arrived in the UnitedContinue reading “No Justice for Mary Cirillo Shundry”

In Cold Blood on Fair Avenue: The Murder of Mabel Barnes

AI generated image based on prompt from the story of the 1947 murder of Mable Barnes.

A life ended in a shocking act of violence when Mabel Seymour Barnes was murdered by her estranged husband, setting the stage for a case that questions justice and accountability. Mabel Seymour Barnes (1911–1947) was born in Ross County, Ohio, to Hiram Seymour (1875-1917) and Sarah Rinehart Seymour (1886-1928). Her father passed away when sheContinue reading “In Cold Blood on Fair Avenue: The Murder of Mabel Barnes”

Gut-shot and Crawling: The 1932 Murder of a Tuscarawas County Farmer

AI prompt: Photograph taken at 9:00 pm on December 1933 of a fifty-year-old man crawling through the snow from his farm house, seen in the far background of the photograph, to a neighbor's farm house. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

A group of young men embarked on a crime spree that tragically culminated in the murder of local farmer, shot during a robbery at his rural Tuscarawas County home for a mere $15. During the summer and fall of 1932 a gang of young men, who had met one another in Canton, Ohio, went onContinue reading “Gut-shot and Crawling: The 1932 Murder of a Tuscarawas County Farmer”