A quiet Ohio home became the scene of a horrifying discovery Tuesday, after an elderly couple was found shot dead and their daughter’s ex-husband was also found dead inside the property. The daughter had warned a 911 dispatcher that her ex was at her parents’ house after noticing his car in the driveway.
Emilia and Sorin Ciortan, both 71, were found inside their North Royalton home just before 8 p.m., according to the North Royalton Police Department and WKYC. Their daughter’s ex-husband, Stefan Pascu, 71, was also found dead. Police said there was “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a firearm present.”
The daughter’s call offered a frantic picture of what she feared was happening. “I think I have an intruder in my parents’ house. It’s my ex,” she told the 911 dispatcher. She then explained that her parents had not answered their phones: “They haven’t been answering in a half hour. I was calling on the phone, and I don’t know what to do.”
When asked why Pascu might have gone to the home, the daughter said it was her birthday and that he had “just been so mad and can’t let go for more than 10 years now.” She told the dispatcher, “We’ve been divorced, and he came back from the country from Romania. He’s been here for a month or so. He’s been acting very strange.”
Police were unable to make contact with the couple, so officers entered the home and made the grim discovery. Emilia Ciortan was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the dining room. Sorin Ciortan was found upstairs in the living room, also shot in the head.
Officers then withdrew from the home, while Pascu’s car remained outside. They did not initially find him. The Southwest Enforcement Bureau tactical unit responded and later discovered Pascu’s body in the lower level of the home, police said.
Whatever anger Pascu may have carried, the daughter’s account described something far beyond ordinary post-divorce drama. A divorce is not a license to force your way into someone’s home, and treating a decade-long grudge like a permanent mission is as dangerous as it is disturbing. Police will now have to establish the full sequence of events and determine exactly what happened inside the house.
The North Royalton Detective Bureau is investigating with assistance from the Ohio Bureau of Investigation. This report is based on coverage from the New York Post.
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