Hannah Hill, Ashley Biggs: A look at prominent strangulation murders in Summit County
Strangulation is a leading sign of escalating violence in a relationship, researchers and law enforcement say.
Strangulation also increases the victim's chances of facing a violent death.
In fact, those who have survived a strangulation are 750% more likely to be subsequently killed by their attacker, according to the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention.
Here's a look at several of the most prominent Summit County homicides that involved strangulation:
Margaret “Meg” Purk
Purk, 24, who was nine months pregnant, was found hanging from a rope from a second-floor railing in her Akron apartment in 1985. Her death was ruled a suicide, but investigators later exhumed her body and concluded she died of ligature strangulation, and the cause of death was homicide. Scott Purk, Meg’s husband, was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison with possible parole after 18 years.
Charlene Puffenbarger
Puffenbarger, 26, was found dead in her Twinsburg Township home in 1992. She had been beaten, strangled and suffocated. Her two sons, Dustin and Derrek, ages 3 and 2, were home but were unharmed. Willard McCarley was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison with possible parole after 20 years in 2017 in his third trial. Prosecutors say McCarley killed Puffenbarger to avoid paying child support for their son.
Hannah Hill
Hill, 18, was found strangled to death in the trunk of her car in the Ellet area of Akron in 1999. Denny Ross was convicted of murder in a retrial in 2012 and sentenced to life in prison with possible parole after 19 years. Hill went missing after leaving her parents’ home in Akron to visit Ross at his apartment.
Leonard McHaddon
McHaddon, 68, who had mobility and health problems, was found dead in the bedroom of his home in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood in 2012. He died from manual strangulation. Shannon Mount, an acquaintance of McHaddon’s, was sentenced to life in prison with possible parole after 40 years. Police said robbery was the motive.
Ashley Biggs
Ashley Biggs was shocked with a taser, beaten and strangled with a zip tie in 2012. Chad Cobb, her ex-boyfriend, was sentenced to life in prison. Cobb and Biggs were in a heated custody dispute over their then-7-year-old daughter. Erica Stefanko, Cobb’s wife at the time of the murder, was arrested years later, accused of helping Cobb, including by making a bogus pizza delivery call that lured Biggs to where she was killed. Stefanko was sentenced this month to life in prison with possible parole after 30 years after being convicted of aggravated murder and murder in her retrial.
Wendy Ralston
Wendy Ralston and her 5-year-old son, Peyton, were found bundled up and buried next to each another in the woods behind their Tallmadge duplex in 2012. Because of decomposition, experts weren’t able to determine how they were killed. Prosecutors, though, said Wendy likely was killed during an argument or fit of rage, possibly through strangulation. Daniel Tighe, Wendy’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hannah Hill, Ashley Biggs: Who died by strangulation in Summit County
