The Orrville Police Department is investigating the death of a 39-year-old woman Tuesday morning and has arrested her boyfriend in connection with the killing.
The woman has been identified as Jessica Duprey. The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shaun L. Ross.
A court affidavit shows Ross has been charged with aggravated murder, murder, domestic violence and disrupting public service.
According to authorities, officers responded to the 200 block of Chateau Circle around 3 a.m. Tuesday. When they arrived, they found Duprey dead at the scene. She had lacerations on her neck; a bloody knife was found nearby.
Duprey's mother, who lives at the same address, told officers that her daughter was involved in a fight with her Ross, and then he drove off in Duprey's red 2012 Chevrolet Traverse— which was found sometime later in the 300 block of Sassafras Street.
Authorities confirmed Ross was caught later in the morning after an area-wide manhunt, and a tip came in from a resident on Church Road who spotted a man walking down his driveway matching the boyfriend's description.
Once in custody, Ross confessed to investigators, authorities said.
According to court records, Ross stated during an interview that "the victim was on the couch and asked for a blanket whereupon he took it to the victim with the knife in hand, and stabbed her once in the left side of the neck" and possibly stabbed her several more times.
Records further state that Duprey sustained three stab wounds to the neck. Ross allegedly also took a witness's cell phone to keep them from calling for help.
Tiffany Semrock says she only knew Duprey a short time, but they bonded quickly.
“She confided in me a lot. We called each other sisters she was my best friend," Semrock said.
Semrock says Duprey was afraid of her boyfriend but he was set to leave in the morning.
“She was scared to get him out of the house or have something happen — she was completely terrified, even her mother was," Semrock said.
Semrock says she and her fiancé last saw Duprey just hours before her death at the Orrville McDonald's where she worked as a night manager.
“She was actually really excited and seemed very happy Shaun was going to be gone from her house and out of her life to be able to start moving forward. I guess that didn’t get to happen. It sucks," friend Marcus Wonderling said.
Both friends are now shaken and heartbroken.
"She was an amazing person; she was an amazing friend. And I’m going to miss her terribly," Semrock said.
