New Sandusky County EMS facility receiving funds secured by Rep. Kaptur
NEWS

Dead man in passenger's seat was burglary suspect

Lou Whitmire
Reporter

BUCYRUS – The suspect in a pair of Cleveland-area crimes was found dead in the front passenger’s seat of a Jeep Liberty during a traffic stop early Monday in Crawford County.

Michael Collins Jr., 34, of Lakewood, died of a gunshot wound to the head, said Lt. Michael Vinson, commander of the Bucyrus post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

“We’re not calling it a suicide. We’re not calling it a homicide,” Vinson said.

The driver of the Jeep, Kristle Kendle, 24, of Lakewood, said the man committed suicide, Vinson said. Kendle was charged with DUI and remains in the Crawford County Jail.

Collins was wanted in connection with a burglary at a residence in Lakewood, where he was alleged to have taken his father’s gun; and with a 9 p.m. Sunday armed robbery at a convenience store and gas station in Strongsville.

“The gun recovered is one from the burglary at the residence,” Vinson said.

At 1:02 a.m. Monday, troopers received a call from a person who said Collins was dead and in a vehicle that had exited Interstate 71 at U.S. 30 and was thought to be heading west. The caller told authorities that the driver had said believed she was in the Ontario area at a Panera Bread parking lot when the shooting occurred, Vinson said.

A trooper spotted the vehicle on Crawford County Road 100 about a mile south of Ohio 19 at 2:12 a.m.

A Crawford County Sheriff’s Office deputy and two troopers from the Bucyrus post stopped the vehicle.

“We are working with a broad time frame of when this occurred,” Vinson said of the shooting death.

He said it took a long time to track the vehicle down because the person driving was turning back and going different ways on multiple routes. At one point, the vehicle was believed to have been in Upper Sandusky.

Collins’ body is being sent to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office, where an autopsy is to be performed.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir