Dead man in passenger's seat was burglary suspect - Mansfield News Journal
BUCYRUS – The suspect in a pair of Cleveland-area crimes was found dead in the front passenger’s seat of a Jeep Liberty during a traffic stop early Monday in Crawford County. Michael Collins Jr. , 34, of Lakewood, died of a gunshot wound to the head, said Lt. Michael Vinson, commander of the Bucyrus post of the Ohio Highway Patrol. We’re not calling it a homicide,” Vinson said. The driver of the Jeep, Kristle Kendle, 24, of Lakewood, said the man committed suicide, Vinson said. “The gun recovered is one from the burglary at the residence,” Vinson said. Monday, troopers received a call from a person who said Collins was dead and in a vehicle that had exited Interstate 71 at U. S. 30 and was thought to be heading west. The caller told authorities that the driver had said believed she was in the Ontario area at a Panera Bread parking lot when the shooting occurred, Vinson said. A trooper spotted the vehicle on Crawford County Road 100 about a mile south of Ohio 19 at 2:12 a. m. A Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputy and two troopers from the Bucyrus post stopped the vehicle. “We are working with a broad time frame of when this occurred,” Vinson said of the shooting death. Source: www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com
