In the early morning hours of August 16, 2018, a sense of tranquility in Camden Township, Michigan, was shattered by an act of violence that would claim the lives of two men. One of the victims was 56-year-old Timothy John Curtiss, a male resident of the area. The incident unfolded at a home on Grange Road, from which a distress call to the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Office was made at approximately 4:09 a.m. reporting a shooting.
Upon their arrival, deputies were met with a grim scene. Inside the residence, they discovered 64-year-old Alexander Lee Dombrowski, who had been shot. Outside the home, they found the body of Timothy John Curtiss, who had also sustained a fatal gunshot wound. It was later reported that Curtiss had gone to the residence to offer help after hearing cries for assistance from within.
The suspect in the double homicide was quickly identified as 36-year-old Alexander Lee Dombrowski, the son of the elder victim. After the shootings, the younger Dombrowski fled the scene on foot, prompting an extensive search by law enforcement. The search concluded shortly after 9 a.m. the same day when a deputy spotted him walking in a field south of the crime scene. He was taken into custody without incident.
Following his arrest, Alexander Lee Dombrowski was lodged in the Hillsdale County Jail and subsequently charged with two counts of open murder for the deaths of his father and Timothy John Curtiss. Investigators learned that a complaint of criminal sexual conduct had been made at the residence the day before the fatal shootings, though it was not immediately clear if the complaint was directly linked to the homicides. The Michigan State Police assisted the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Office in the investigation.
