Three Area Deaths Called Suicides
by An elderly Dayton man found dead in front of his home on North Smithville Road is one of three weekend deaths being investigated as a suicide.
Authorities identified the man as Charles Marcum, 76, of 213 N. Smithville Road. Police said it appears he shot himself with a small handgun just outside the doorway to his house. Dayton Sgt. Robert Mannix said ill health may have been a factor.
Francis Lemaster, whose wife is Marcum’s niece and who lives next door, found Marcum. Lemaster said Marcum had arthritis in his neck and shoulders and recently had back surgery. He was home for a weekend visit from Veterans Affairs Hospital.
Lemaster said he had spoken to Marcum just 10 minutes earlier and he had given no indication he might kill himself.
Lemaster said Marcum’s wife died 10 years ago. Marcum has a son and three daughters, Lemaster said.
Meanwhile, Dayton homicide investigators are looking at the possibility that a self-inflicted gunshot wound led to the death of a 21-year-old Dayton man found Sunday morning in an alley behind 134 Klee St.
Friends found Donald Allen, 21, of 121 Klee Ave. with a gunshot wound to the head around 2 a.m. Sunday, according to police.
In Fairborn, at about 11 p.m. Saturday, police were called to 235 Euclid Ave. by a woman who said her boyfriend, armed with a rifle, had locked himself in a bathroom.
The Regional Emergency Response Team and hostage negotiators responded, but were unable to make contact with the man, police said.
Police entered the apartment and found a man dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The man’s name was not being released Sunday, pending family notification.
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