Jonathan Schmidt faces aggravated murder charges after allegedly breaking into his mother-in-law's home in Sylvania, Ohio, and beating her to death with a crowbar. The attack occurred while her husband slept upstairs, amid Schmidt's contentious divorce from her daughter. Authorities arrested Schmidt the next day in Michigan.
On Wednesday evening around 9 p.m., Marcia Van Druten, 68, and her husband were at their home on Fox Hollow Court in Sylvania, a Toledo suburb of about 20,000 residents. Jonathan Schmidt, 35, allegedly shattered the sliding glass doors with a crowbar to enter the house. Van Druten's husband was asleep upstairs during the assault, which left her dead from multiple blunt force trauma, according to the Lucas County Coroner's Office autopsy confirming homicide. Lucas County jail records show Schmidt was booked on Friday and charged with aggravated murder. Emily Hayman, a friend of Schmidt's wife Kinsey, told Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG that a friend of Schmidt had warned Kinsey via message that he planned to hurt her mother. Kinsey called her mother repeatedly with no answer, then alerted her father, who discovered the body downstairs. Hayman recounted Kinsey phoning her in panic: 'She said he killed my mom. He killed my mom.' Schmidt fled but was caught the following morning in La Salle, Michigan, roughly 25 miles northeast. The couple, parents to a 1-year-old son born prematurely during their honeymoon 15 months ago, were in a bitter divorce involving custody disputes and battles over child and spousal support. Subpoenas had gone to family members including Van Druten, per Toledo CBS affiliate WTOL. A GoFundMe by Hayman describes the sudden grief for Kinsey, who must now raise her child alone.