Jan. 20, 1992: Charlene Puffenbarger, 26, is found bludgeoned and strangled in her home in the Pinewood Gardens Apartments, a public housing complex in Twinsburg Township. Her sons, ages 2 and 3, were home but weren’t harmed.
2001: Summit County Sheriff’s Office forms a cold-case task force to re-investigate Puffenbarger’s murder.
2004: Williard McCarley, Puffenbarger’s ex-boyfriend and the father of one of her sons, is arrested after new DNA testing links him to a leather belt used to kill Puffenbarger.
2005: A Summit County jury finds McCarley guilty of aggravated murder. Judge Marvin Shapiro sentences him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
2006: 9th District Court of Appeals court grants McCarley a new trial because of a complimentary remark Shapiro made to a witness in front of the jury that was seen as prejudicial.
2007: A second Summit County jury finds McCarley guilty of aggravated murder. Shapiro again sentences McCarley to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
2014: 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals grants McCarley a new trial because of Shapiro allowing a child psychologist to read notes from her sessions with Puffenbarger’s son, Dustin, during the trial. Dustin, then 3, prosecutors say, witnessed his mother’s murder and identified McCarley as her killer in talks with the psychologist. Appellate court remands case to U.S. District Court.
2016: U.S. District Court orders Summit County Common Pleas Court to set aside McCarley’s conviction or conduct another trial within 180 days.
2017: U.S. District Court grants an extension requested by both sides.
April 4, 2017: McCarley’s third trial is scheduled to start.