Protest planned at exhumation

Live coverage this morning: Limberios family members and supporters will march silently from Lions Park to Castalia Cemetery.
May 1, 2013


Supporters of the Limberios family plan to gather at 6 a.m. Wednesday at Lions Park in Castalia, a short walk from the Castalia Cemetery where 19-year-old Jacob Limberios is buried.

From there they plan to walk to the cemetery in a silent protest of Sandusky County special prosecutor Dean Henry's plan to have Jacob's body exhumed and sent to Lucas County for a second autopsy. The exhumation is planned for 7 a.m.

The following was posted today at the Justice for Jake Facebook:

"If you plan to attend our demonstration tomorrow, please meet us at Lyons Park in Castalia at 6 a.m. so that we can car pool. Also, we cannot stress how important it is that this is to be a silent protest. No verbal or physical violence will be tolerated. When we are approached by the people whose job it is to exhume the body, and eventually law enforcement, our mindset must be that we cannot see, hear, or feel their presence. Please abide by our peaceful and nonviolent philosophy. Thank you for your support, and please continue to spread the word."

The Register will be providing live coverage all morning at

Click here for demand viewing or to read related article, watch video or view related photo galleries.



Justice for Jake would be to find out what really happened and then, let him rest in peace.

voice of fremont

This is old news!! I wish the Sandusky Register would focus on news instead the anti law enforcement agenda!! I feel bad for this family and I pray for them daily, but this is doing them more harm than good


Because regardless if it doesn't matter to you, to a lot of us it does. Thanks to the Sandusky Register Sandusky County's mistakes are being exposed and they are being held accountable. If it was your family you would want the truth too so if you are sick if hearing about it, don't read the article! This is not anti- law enforcement, it is pro- justice!


To Voice of Fremont~
Im positive if this were your child they wanted to remove from the ground for a second time you wouldn't feel that way. This is not harming the family, this BS of them not allowing their son to rest in peace is what is causing undue stress and not allowing this family to just go through a normal grieving process. The Sandusky Register needs to keep focus on this story, the scum that sits in the law enforcement positions getting away with all this covering up needs to be exposed....Which im positive will come soon now!

dont blame me

What Sandusky County officials have done to the Limberios family is inexcusable. Believe me Mike and Shannon there are a lot of people sick about this. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Matt and Emil keep on it and please don’t let up. Remember, “Someone needs to care”.

voice of fremont

The one thing that sticks out to me is the anti law enforcement agenda of this newspaper! They are always attacking law enforcement and that is wrong. I feel terrible for this family but I think the paper is taking advantage of their sons tragic death to promote their agenda


@voice of Fremont. Please keep your voice in Fremont. No one is forcing you to read the Sandusky Register. They are not anti-law enforcement, in fact they are trying to get the law enforced.


I agree, this family has gone thru a lot. However one of the reporters here also allowed slanderous statements to be printed against prosecutor Baxter. If I'm not mistaken he filed a suit against the SR and the reporter. So maybe that's why he has a bad taste for law anything.


Moderators have removed this comment because it contained Lengthy excerpts from other websites.


Ha they removed it because it gave a contradiction to what the SR is printing. The family asked for Wukie to change his ruling. The only way to do that is by doing exactly what they're doing. The Lucas county coroner will be conducting this one, so no bias opinions there. It's a shame they removed the link gave a completely different turn on what's going on. The SR will leave links from the ORC, but couldn't leave yours.


I agree it was wrong to remove that link. I read the article. And if someone sent a threatening message to the detective that is WRONG, no matter how badly Sandusky County has handled this investigation, the SR should be a NEWS paper and report both sides.


And Wukie should have sent the body for an autopsy the night of the shooting.


Jmschmidt... The tissue containing the gunshot wound was removed from the body when Jakes family had an autopsy done by Dr. Wecht. He then sent the sample to Sandusky county so that they could examine it. They have not done that. Detective O'connell said the tissue sample was destroyed by the formaldehyde that it was put in to preserve it. Yet another ridiculous statement by Sandusky county. So, to sum it up... There is no point in digging up jakes body when they have already had the evidence they are supposed to be looking at. The skin and tissue from the bullet wound has been cut away, so what are they going to determine by looking at the body, that Dr. Wecht is fabulous with a scalpel?


It was not lengthy, it was a link to the Fremont News Messenger article about someone threatening the detective. I am not saying I don't agree that Sandusky county needs to be held accountable but someone threatening the detective is not right and it's not right or fair of the Register to hide that other information.

Matt Westerhold

News Messenger headline: Facebook post leads to threatening text 

Perhaps you are jumping to a wrong conclusion suggesting the Register might be hiding something. The special prosecutor and the detective have both, it seems, decided to release some information to some media outlets and release other information to other media outlets. This gamesmanship with the public record, treating it as something they can dole out, or withhold, based on their own whims, appears improper. The Ohio Revised Code is very clear regarding the responsibilities public officials have regarding the public record. 

It's been many weeks now since detective O'Connell twice said the investigation was finished and that it determined once again that Jake killed himself. He and special prosecutor Dean Henry have not provided anything to substantiate that conclusion and they've provided numerous seemingly contradictory statements for the last five months, in my opinion. 

The News Messenger reporter is doing a pretty good job given the difficulty of the circumstances. The Register's coverage has been more comprehensive, however, and the SR has leaned harder on public officials for answers to questions raised by the family regarding conflicts of interest and the many serious deficiencies apparent in the county's response to this gun killing. The SR has succeeded in providing comprehensive coverage despite the gamesmanship with the public record.

I hope the News Messenger sees the value in the questions the SR has pressed, many of which do reflect the concerns raised by the Limberios family, and begins also to push for answers. The questions are legitimate regardless of whether public officials answer them. If a newspaper stops following up on concerns and asking the hard questions there's potential it could become a mere mouthpiece for public officials, and we wouldn't want that. 

The link to the News Messenger story has been restored. The SR has asked for a copy of the incident report (another public record) from the Fremont Police Department. That report should provide the specific nature of the complaint, which will be reported by the SR as soon as the more credible and thorough information becomes available. The bigger story, however, is the planned exhumation and protest. That will be the focus of the SR's coverage today, with live coverage from the cemetery. 

The other story link is a News Messenger article that suggests one narrow answer to the broad question whether Dean Henry has a conflict interest serving as both the criminal investigator and the defense counsel for the county. But it falls far short of explaining how anyone could properly function in both roles simultaneously. 

From the News Messenger article: However, by Wukie agreeing to exhume the body and review his findings, the family is effectively getting what they sought in the civil lawsuit, he said. "Now that he’s agreed to have the body re-examined, the focus of that lawsuit was moot," McMunigal said.
It seems pretty brassy the county now claims — through an 'independent' public official — to be in agreement with the family and is complying with their request after delaying an autopsy for 14 months and ignoring the autopsy that was performed. 
There doesn't seem to be much agreement given the protest at the cemetery that is planned for later this morning. 

Matt, I think you do an EXCELLENT job of covering this story and hope you press on until justice is served. I just thought it was incorrect to remove the link, as it didn't say anything derogatory about the family or SR. If someone actually threatened someone, I think that is not something that anyone associated with this wants to see.
It breaks my heart seeing all this happen. I don't agree one bit with how Sandusky County is handling this. I think your coverage has been effective.


As I posted before. Once I paid for the body to be exhumed and to have the autopsy completed, I think I would have requested a cremation. Once cremated Sandusky County could not do this. I can't believe how Sandusky County has screwed this whole thing up. I hope the Limberios' get the justice they so deserve. Good Luck to the family! Sandusky County justice system is a mess from the Sheriff's Dept to the court system. Erie County and the State of Ohio are not much better.


That would have been a good idea.


That would have been a good idea.


Having followed this ordeal now for over a year, it is easy to say what you would have done differently. When put in the shoes of the Limberios family, you can only follow your heart.


Actually I thought about this when they had him autopsied, I wondered then why they didn't. Guess I have watched too many NCIS and such shows over the years huh?


That would have been the worst thing to do. Then the ruling would never be changed because of the destruction of physical evidence.

Cracked Cherry

Who ever accidentally fired the gun should just fess up.


As I am sitting here reading the comments, I was thinking the exact same thing. I feel so bad for the family but can't understand why their son's friends haven't come clean about what happened.


They weren't his friends- never met one of them until that night. The female that was there was the sister of Jake's girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Ella. One of those 3 people should tell what actually happen so this nightmare ends for Mike and Shannon.


Nobody has said much about the other 3 that were there that night.


They were told not to talk or say anything from/by Dean Henry. Can You believe that a sister cannot tell her sister something? They must not be close.


Or she's trying to protect her boyfriend...

voice of fremont

The Sandusky Register needs to condemn the threats made to Sandusky County Law Enforcement!! This whole thing is getting out of hand and it is only making the grieving process worse for the family. Shame on you Sandusky Register.


Voice of Fremont-Are you in any way related to the family Or are you related to someone in law enforcement? Because it seems to me that you have your fingers in alot of pies! If you are not directly related to Jake's family, then how dare you speak on their behalf? Do you not think they are capable of speaking for themselves? I, personally applaud the Register in being tenacious when it comes to not allowing Sandusky County officials in not being forthright in this investigation.Great job Matt and Company!


"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
― Martin Luther King Jr.

― Martin Luther King Jr.

― Martin Luther King Jr.


Such an appropriate post. We are trying to utilize Dr. King's philosophy in our demonstrations


I wonder why Dean Henry feels the need to be so condescending and hurtful in his replies to media questions. I realize that he hates the Sandusky Register and Mr. McGookey, but does he know how his comments make the family, friends, and relatives of Jake Limberios feel? Have some compassion for God sake! The Limberios family lost a 19 year old son, father, nephew, and cousin. Yet Henry continues to feed his enormous ego by playing the tough guy when questioned by the media. What a pathetic person.


O’Connell declined to specify what the text message said. He said he reported the incident to the Fremont Police Department.
“From reading it, I perceived it as being somewhat threatening,” O’Connell said.

So was there actually a threat or not? If so that is uncalled for no matter how upset people may be, if not, it would seem as though O'Connell is looking for more news media attention.


Live coverage? I don't know if that is really necessary...hopefully the coverage stops before they arrive at the cemetery.


Yeah seems like the SR is trying to make it into a spectacle. A little crass in my opinion.


No-one needs a K-9 to smell a dishonest cop.


SR is trying to keep Sandusky County accountable. It's no different than what the media is doing with Kendrick Johnson in Georgia! The families deserve answers...


I am just wandering how many people are going to come out from behind their key boards and are going to be there from this , I am just asking , I hope its a lot


voice of fremont what side are you on. the register wants the truth like the rest of us do. sandusky county sheriffs office did wrong i do not like police officers that do not follow the books in doing there job. Do not read the register if you do not like what they are saying. just keep reading your news messenger then. I am glad the register and the local news media are involed cause there was a lot of things they did wrong and we want the truth.


This whole thing could've been avoided if just 3 people had done their jobs that very day.
1. Sheriff Overmyer as the person in charge of first responders.
2. Det. Sean O'Connel for negligence in doing forensics.
3. Dr. Wukie for doing his job that requires him in person, trying to do it over the phone and no follow up after.

I'm not a lawyer and I can see that.

Truth or Dare

Evidently, Indignation is a a profane word to be used here?

Kottage Kat

I believe O'Connell was hired after Jake's death, that makes me curious as to whom is responsible for the failure to collect evidence and why was BCI not called to Hamlet the investigation?
Perhaps these issues have been addressed, if so I apologize for being redundant


O'connell was not put on the case until November or so. I think it is amazing that in his initial meeting with the family, after only being on the case for a few days or so, he says that if Jake had shot himself there should have been some stippling. He also seems to believe that someone accidentally shot Jake. Also in a subsequent email he states that if he had to make an educated guess, one of the witnesses present (I won't mention his name) accidentally shot Jake. However, after he meets with Henry, all of the sudden he doesn't know basic forensics and claims wrongly that stippling can be washed away and that the formaldehyde ruined the tissue sample from the gunshot wound.
The initial responders to the scene were described as "road cops". They were the ones who allowed a witness to change clothes, throw away blood spattered shoes, etc.



"A lie cannot live."
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Random Thoughts



Keep C&Peeing all over the place, RT. It weakens you. "...doth protest too much, methinks." Shakespeare.




Does anyone else find it strange that there wasn't some type of cell phone video of this when it happened ?? ....... everything else seems to be captured on tape nowadays...... especially when people are drinking.