Kaitlin Nicole Kurtz, a 29-year-old White woman and mother of three from Grafton, Ohio, was remembered by the father of her oldest child as a good mother who “got caught up with a bad person.” Her life was ended by gun violence in her own home, where her children were sleeping.
On the night of Sunday, May 26, 2024, just after 11 p.m., Lorain County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call at a residence in the 12500 block of Melody Lane in Eaton Township. Inside, they discovered Kaitlin, who had been shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and two younger children she had with her live-in boyfriend were all in the home at the time of the shooting.
Deputies arrested Kaitlin’s boyfriend, 34-year-old Clifford L. Serafine Jr., at the house. The father of Kaitlin’s oldest daughter later told reporters that he had previously seen bruises on Kaitlin’s face, but she had told him she fell.
He also said his daughter had told him that Kaitlin and Serafine argued a lot.
A Lorain County Grand Jury indicted Serafine on charges that included aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, domestic violence, and using weapons while intoxicated. He was held in the Lorain County Jail on a $1.25 million bond while awaiting trial.
On January 12, 2026, just before his trial was scheduled to begin, Clifford L. Serafine Jr. pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Lorain County Judge Donna Freeman sentenced him to serve 28 years to life in prison for Kaitlin’s murder. The case was closed as of January 2026.
