The victims were gunned down in a span of 6 minutes, from 11:30 to 11:36 a.m., at two houses at 7120 and 7214 Hardwicke Place, according to an incident report on the quadruple homicide.
The report identified a handgun as the type of weapon used on Aug. 5 to kill Clyde Knox, 82, and his wife, Eva “Sally” Knox, 78, and mother and daughter Sarah Anderson, 41, and Kayla Anderson, 15.
Officials previously had declined to say what type of weapon was used.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Police first discovered the bodies of the Knoxes after officers who responded to shots fired calls in the area were waved over by a man who lived next door to the couple, the report stated.
“Two people have been shot,” the neighbor told a dispatcher. “My son heard gunshots, he came over to check them and they are laying … in their garage.”
Sally Knox was found on the ground and her husband was sitting in a lawn chair, slumped over, the report stated.
The neighbor told the dispatcher he wanted to help the Knoxes, but there wasn’t anything he could do.
“You did great, you did everything that you could,” the dispatcher told him. “You got us there, you got us there.”
Although the Knoxes were found first, another witness pointed to the Anderson home and told police the gunshots started there.
An officer spotted Sarah Anderson on the garage floor. Inside the house, the officer noted it appeared normal in the living room and foyer before he entered the kitchen, where he saw 15-year-old Kayla Anderson lying on floor.
One of the first 911 callers was a contractor who heard gunfire as he was driving. He is believed to have spoken to the shooter after he left the Andersons but before he reached the Knox house.
“A guy come out as I was driving by and asked me if I’m a (part of it), and I said ‘No, I’m not involved,’” the man told a dispatcher. “I heard three or four (gunshots) driving up the street, and then he come out of somebody’s garage right there at the corner, his vehicle was setting at the corner … and as I drove away I heard about four or five more shots.”
The suspect is 39-year-old Stephen Alexander Marlow, who lived with his parents around the corner from the victims in the 2600 block of Haverstraw Avenue. He was arrested in Lawrence, Kansas, the night after the slayings when police there spotted the white 2007 Ford Edge he was driving.
Some of the witnesses were able to provide a description of the Ford Edge, a partial license plate number and of Marlow.
Marlow signed documents Aug. 11 to waive extradition to Ohio. He was booked at 5 p.m. Wednesday into the Montgomery County Jail and could be arraigned as soon as Thursday. He faces aggravated murder, burglary and weapons charges filed in Vandalia Municipal Court and a federal charge for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Marlow was prohibited from possessing a firearm following a February 2020 aggravated menacing conviction. He also released a startling video on the internet after the shootings.
Tips helped lead to Marlow’s capture, and law enforcement officials last week asked that anyone with information about Marlow that may help the investigation to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or Miami Valley CrimeStoppers at 937-222-STOP (7867).
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