On January 19, 2011, 76-year-old Stephen Shonn was found dead in his basement in Austintown, Ohio. His wife, Judith Shonn, discovered his body early in the morning after returning home late the previous night. Stephen Shonn was found lying face-down with his arms at his sides. Although there were no visible signs of blunt force trauma beyond a bloody nose and bluish coloring in his face and hands, the Mahoning County coroner later ruled his death as a homicide caused by manual strangulation.
This indicated that the attacker had used their hands to choke Shonn to death. The police believe that the intruder was someone Shonn might have known since there were no signs of forced entry into the house, and many items, including his wallet, cell phone, and car, were missing from the home.
Judith Shonn initially assumed her husband had gone out, as he mentioned he might go to Truck World in Hubbard to get hot dogs. She tried to reach him on his cell phone several times during the night but received no response. Upon eventually searching the house, she found him in the basement, prompting her to contact the authorities. At the crime scene, Shonn's pockets were turned out, and multiple drawers and cabinets in the house had been rummaged through, implying a robbery might have occurred. Shonn's green 2007 Buick Lucerne was later found abandoned in a restaurant parking lot along North Canfield Niles Road. Investigators tracked the GPS signal from Shonn’s cell phone, which showed that it had traveled along Interstate 80 into Pennsylvania.
The investigation into Stephen Shonn's murder remains unsolved despite several promising leads early on. The police gathered DNA evidence from the crime scene, but a match in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System has not yet been found. Investigators also followed up on a potential suspect—a truck driver who seemed to fit the profile—but this lead ultimately did not provide a resolution. The case has since stalled, and detectives are now waiting for a potential DNA match from further investigations or future crimes committed by the perpetrator. The Austintown police continue to encourage anyone with information to come forward, hoping that new developments might lead to the resolution of this case.
