true crime – Page 8 – Tuscarawas County Stories

Father and Son: The Murder of Jonas Bremer

Postcard image of Port Washington, Ohio in Tuscarawas County, c. 1900. (Source: pinterest.com)

The Tuscarawas County community was stunned when a father and civil war veteran from one of the county’s oldest families turned his gun on one of his own children. The Bremer family were one of the earliest settlers of Salem Township, Tuscarawas County, having arrived in the county from Pennsylvania before 1811. That early settler,Continue reading “Father and Son: The Murder of Jonas Bremer”

Evil in the Twin Cities: The 1944 Murder of Naomi Freed

AI generated image depicting 10 year-old Naomi Freed on the Center Street bridge in Dennison, Ohio, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

A Dennison, Ohio family was shattered, and a community shocked, when the family’s nearly ten-year-old daughter was murdered on her way home from a movie in the spring of 1944. The Freed family, originally from Pennsylvania, settled in Tuscarawas County after the Civil War with the arrival of Henry Freed (1833-1909) and his wife CatherineContinue reading “Evil in the Twin Cities: The 1944 Murder of Naomi Freed”

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”

A Quiet Life Broken: The 1909 Murder of Alice Parsons

AI generated image of a quiet residential street in a medium sized Ohio city, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

The seemingly idyllic life of Alice and Lewis Parsons in New Philadelphia, Ohio was shattered by gunshots on a fall morning in 1909. Content warning: This post contains references to suicide. If you or someone you know has a mental illness, is struggling emotionally, or has concerns about their mental health, there are ways to getContinue reading “A Quiet Life Broken: The 1909 Murder of Alice Parsons”

Shot in a Dover Coffeehouse: The 1921 Murder of Mike Lambros

AI generated image depicting Steve Manos waiting to kill Mike Lambros in a Dover, Ohio coffee house in March 1921. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

A confrontation between Greek immigrants in Dover, Ohio, over an alleged insult toward one the men’s wife resulted in a murder. Michael (1894-1921) and Alec (1896-1985) Lambros immigrated from Greece in 1914 and, by 1920, owned and operated their own barber shop on the 300 block of West 3rd Street in Dover, Ohio. The brothers’Continue reading “Shot in a Dover Coffeehouse: The 1921 Murder of Mike Lambros”

“A Bad Man”: The Killing of Henry Bushman

AI image of a sepia-toned photograph set inside a small, rustic bakery in rural Ohio, 1883. The interior is filled with wooden shelves stacked with freshly baked bread, pies, and pastries, with a large stone oven in the background. In the center of the scene, a young 20-year-old baker, wearing a flour-dusted apron and suspenders, is locked in a heated struggle with a rugged, 40-year-old railroad worker who appears visibly drunk, with a bottle in his hand and disheveled clothing. The baker, fists raised, shows determination and anger, while the older man stumbles, trying to regain his balance. The lighting is dim, and the atmosphere is tense, with flour kicked up in the air during the scuffle, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

German immigrant Henry Bushman led a troubled and short life, marred by frequent run-ins with the law and fueled by alcohol, which eventually led to a fatal encounter with his nephew in Uhrichsville, Ohio. When someone lived as short a life as German immigrant Henry Bushman (1852-1883) did in the 19th century, it is oftenContinue reading ““A Bad Man”: The Killing of Henry Bushman”

A Life for Two Dollars: The 1907 Murder of Joseph Yerian

AI generated image depicting Shedrick Penn and Joseph Yerian playing cards in J.B. Ewing's saloon in Bolivar Ohio in 1907, 2024. (Source: Microsoft Designer)

A deadly altercation over a $2 bet between two transient railroad workers in Bolivar, Ohio led to the town’s first murder. The Yerian family arrived in Ohio from western Pennsylvania in the early nineteenth-century and, by the time Joseph A. Yerian (1883-1907) was born, a branch of that family lived in Washington County, Ohio. JosephContinue reading “A Life for Two Dollars: The 1907 Murder of Joseph Yerian”

The White Bridge Murder

An AI generated image of a bridge covering a river in the wintertime. Created by DALL-E 2, January 2023.

It was 2 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, February 8, 1928 when Blicktown farmer John Hinig heard knocking at his front door. Cautiously he opened the door and saw a man, soaking wet, freezing, and seemingly in distress standing in his doorway. The man, William Herron, told Mr. Hinig that while he was drivingContinue reading “The White Bridge Murder”

Kidnapping of “Plucky” Clara Thiebaud

Newspaper headlines often offer a snapshot of an exciting, and perhaps scary, event in an otherwise normal person’s life. One such headline jumped out at me from a 1920s issue of a local newspaper and I could not resist learning more. I have chosen not to use Clara’s later married name(s). Charles Thiebaud and hisContinue reading “Kidnapping of “Plucky” Clara Thiebaud”