murder/suicide- too close to home

[greenhead]

This is very sad, very tragic and too close too home. :mad:

Wife feared murder-suicide
Fatal shooting follows civil protection order
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 3:19 AM
By Mary Beth Lane

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The friend riding in the car beside Stacey Lee Znamenacek was breathless and frantic when he called 911.

"C'mon babe, stay awake Stace," he begged his friend.

"My friend just got shot in the head, her husband just shot her … hurry, please hurry," he begged the dispatcher. It was one of nine 911 calls that flooded in as alarmed residents along Salem Church Road reported hearing gunshots.

Znamenacek, 37, of Canal Winchester, had just been shot by her estranged husband as she drove down Salem Church Road, outside Lithopolis. She died a short time later.

Michael Znamenacek, 42, had been driving in the opposite direction just before 1 p.m. yesterday when he crossed in front of her car, blocking it, and got out and jumped onto the hood, Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen said.

She backed down the road and he fired, again and again. "He shot her probably four times," Phalen said.

Three bullet holes were found in the windshield and the driver's side window was shot out. The friend riding in the car with Mrs. Znamenacek, Hubert Burke of Canal Winchester, was not injured. Mrs. Znamenacek was pronounced dead at the scene, in front of 9437 Salem Church Rd.

Her husband drove off in a minivan. He shot himself in the mouth with a handgun, and the minivan veered off the road and wrecked in a field on Rt. 674 just south of Rt. 188, an area straddling the line between Fairfield and Pickaway counties. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs. Znamenacek had feared her 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pound husband, afraid that he would kill her and himself.

She obtained a domestic-violence civil protection order against Mr. Znamenacek from Fairfield County Domestic Relations Court on Jan. 15, and she filed for divorce Jan. 30.

He acted violently when she said she wanted a divorce, and she feared for her safety, the protection order said. Several times, he threatened to commit suicide and gave his wife the impression he'd take her with him.

The couple were married June 25, 1992. They had two boys, ages 15 and 13, who were in the sole custody of Mrs. Znamenacek at the family home in Canal Winchester, according to the protection order.

Mr. Znamenacek, who was living in Grove City, had been ordered to stay away from his wife and the family home.

Until last week, Mrs. Znamenacek had worked at the Winchester Animal Clinic near Lithopolis.

"They had to let her go because this maniac husband was coming to work and terrorizing the other girls," said Orval "Mick" Fields of Pickerington, Mrs. Znamenacek's divorce lawyer.

A warrant was out for Mr. Znamenacek's arrest for violating the civil protection order by following his wife last week. The sheriff said yesterday that deputies had been looking for him to serve it.

Mr. Znamenacek was an admitted alcoholic who had received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and did not take his prescribed medication, Fields said.

He had worked as a used-car dealer but did not renew his license and was not working at the time of his death, Fields said.

Mrs. Znamenacek was a nice, likable woman, he attorney said. "She was totally nonviolent and then this idiot takes her out," he said.

mlane@dispatch.com

Stacey Lee Znamenacek obtained a civil protection order Jan. 15 and filed for divorce Jan. 30.

[Aussie George]

Too sad.

Prayers and thoughts for both their families who no doubt will be struggling to come to grips with this situation for some time.