Nathan Summerfield

CrimePAY$     $7,000 Wanted Fugitive Reward    1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

8-15-12 Update:  Authorities in Ohio say a man suspected of killing his on-and-off girlfriend during a vacation to North Carolina’s Outer Banks is now in custody.

The United States Marshals Service says Nathan Summerfield is under arrest after a monthlong nationwide manhunt.

Summerfield was wanted on a murder charge in the death of 33-year-old Lynn Jackenheimer of Ashland, Ohio. She disappeared in early July while vacationing with Summerfield and her children. Her body was found in a vacant lot in Frisco, N.C.

Ohio mom Lynn Jackenheimer and her ex-boyfriend are missing, and police have been left grasping for information and evidence as to their fate and whereabouts.

What authorities are going on right now is an interview with the man’s brother, whose story is laid out in a matter-of-fact, yet chilling 911 call: “I wanted to report a possible murder.”

Jake Summerfield called 911 on Sunday to say that his brother, Nathan, had told him he strangled Jackenheimer. Then, he said, Nathan dropped off his child with his brother and left.

Nathan Summerfield left his brother’s home in a gray Honda.

“By all rights, we should have seen or heard something about this car already,” Capt. Carl Richert of the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office told the Los Angeles Times in an interview Wednesday morning. “I can’t believe nobody’s seen or heard from him.”

Jackenheimer, of Ashland, Ohio, reportedly went on a Fourth of July trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks with Nathan Summerfield, their son, Leland, and her 13-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Ciara.

Summerfield returned the children to Ohio, according to the Associated Press.  And then he disappeared.

The Virginian-Pilot reported that investigators on Hatteras Island in North Carolina searched the island with dogs and helicopters for the 33-year-old Jackenheimer, a waitress. And in Ashland, her family also searched for her, including a spot she liked to visit in the woods, the news outlet reported.

Richert said the searching had been scaled back by Wednesday morning “due to the fact that they’ve checked everything they can check.”

“We don’t know where to look next,” he said.

After Nathan Summerfield returned Sunday with the two children, he reportedly dropped off Leland at his brother Jake’s house.  Then his brother made the call to 911:

“My brother was in North Carolina with his ex-girlfriend, and he came back and said he strangled her, and he dropped his kid off, and he left.”

But, Richert said, authorities can’t “jump to conclusions.”  They’re still searching for Nathan Summerfield, who is considered at this point “a person of interest” in the case.

“We don’t know where he is, we’re still attempting to locate him and her. They’re missing persons right now. Basically that’s all we’ve got.”

According to the Virginian-Pilot, Jackenheimer and Nathan Summerfield had a troubled relationship that included a domestic violence change against Summerfield in December 2009. But a 60-day jail sentence was suspended, the news outlet reported.

On Wednesday morning, the AP reported, businesses in Ashland had joined together to offer more than $7,000 in rewards for information about the whereabouts of Jackenheimer or Summerfield.

Meanwhile, Richert said, the Ashland police planned to meet with both families in the next day or so: “Both families are very nice families, by the way.  A shame they have to be involved in something like this.”

CrimePAY$    $7,000 Wanted Fugitive Reward    1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 at 4:37 pm and is filed under $5,000+, Ohio, Solved. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.