When Karen Marsh received a phone call Saturday morning telling her that the man accused of shooting her daughter was finally captured, it was good news.
“It’s somewhat of a relief … it was a long day coming, but I’m thankful that it’s here,” she said. “It won’t bring her back, but I know that he’s going to be held accountable.”
Her daughter, Sara Marsh, 32, of Kent was shot Nov. 30 at a home on Henderson Road in Ravenna Township in Portage County. Marsh was six to 10 weeks pregnant. She died six hours later at the hospital. Also shot was Leshaun Sanders, 33, of Ravenna Township, Marsh’s ex-boyfriend. He was found dead in the driveway of the residence, a house that authorities said belonged to a relative of Sanders.
Authorities said the man accused of killing her daughter and Sanders, David Darnell Calhoun Jr. of Akron, fled the scene and had been in hiding ever since. He was arrested early Saturday morning in Steubenville.
At a news conference Monday held by Portage County Sheriff David Doak, Karen Marsh and her son sat quietly in the back of the room listening to details of Calhoun’s arrest.
Doak said he received a text shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday that Calhoun, 25, was arrested.
Calhoun, aka D Block, was “taken into custody without incident. He was found hiding in an upstairs closet of a vacant house,” Doak said.
Calhoun, who is being held in the Portage County Jail, was arraigned Monday on an unrelated felonious assault charge from a bar fight in Ravenna in October. He will be arraigned on the murder charges Wednesday.
Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci said a nine-count indictment was returned by a grand jury Monday in the Sanders/Marsh shootings that included five counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, one count of tampering with evidence and having weapons while under disability.
Calhoun was on parole in Summit County from a prison sentence he had served since 2010 on robbery and burglary charges. He was released in March 2015 from the Lorain Correctional Institution.
He is also awaiting trial on a 2015 possession of heroin drug charge that occurred in Kent.
The sheriff would not comment on whom Calhoun may have known in Steubenville or the relationship between Calhoun and the two victims.
When asked about speculation that the shootings were a spillover from an earlier argument between Leshaun Sanders and Calhoun, Doak said, “It played a role.”
Pete Elliott of the U.S. Marshals Service said Calhoun had changed his appearance. In his original photo he was wearing dreadlocks and had a beard, but he was cleanshaven with a close haircut when he was arrested.
“We tracked him [Calhoun] daily since Nov. 30 … our officers never ever stopped looking for him,” Elliott said. “We knew a couple of hours beforehand he was in Steubenville. His world got very, very, small after we put his photo up in billboards, in the paper and on TV. He tried to run and hide. We received countless tips … He’s in custody, and we don’t ever expect him to get out of jail.” Senior Inspector Brian Fitzgibbon, who was present at the time of the arrest, said it was a high priority case.
“He hid in the closet when we entered the house, but when we captured him he did comply with investigators and was transported to the jail in Steubenville,” he said.
“It was a complex investigation, and we acted on a compilation of many tips from the public. Originally we offered a $5,000 reward but increased it a few weeks ago to $10,000. … He ran out of places to go.”
Elliott said they were fortunate to get tips because many people said they were afraid for their lives.
Doak said it was one of the most intense manhunts in his career and thanked all the law enforcement officials who helped in the investigation, especially the U.S. Marshals Service and Fugitive Task Force.
After the news conference, Karen Marsh hugged one of the officers and thanked him for capturing Calhoun.
Sara Marsh was one of four siblings. Her older brother, Rick Latimer of Ravenna, who was also at the news conference, said he was thankful there was an arrest.
“We knew people knew things, but coming forth is a whole ’nother story … we are thankful that tips came forward,” Latimer said.
“It’s awesome that he was caught and the residents in the area can sleep knowing this person was arrested. It will help restore confidence in the system. We just hope that justice will be served.”
Karen Marsh said she did not know Calhoun or anything about him before the shootings and doubted that her daughter knew him.
She had no words for the man, but said the incident changed her life and her family’s.
“I ask myself all the time, why my child?” Marsh said. “She would help anyone who asked for help. I never thought something like this could happen to me, but it could happen to anyone.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @MarilynMillerBJ