Cops Nab Man Accused of Killing 4 in Ohio Over ‘Mind Control’
Stephen Marlow recorded a TikTok video in which he claimed he was being tortured through “ventriloquism.”
FBI
A two-day manhunt for the suspect accused of gunning down four people in two houses in Ohio—allegedly because he believed he was the victim of mind control—has ended with his arrest in Kansas.
Stephen Marlow, 39, was nabbed in Lawrence shortly before 9 p.m. on Saturday when a police officer on alert for the fugitive spotted his vehicle and followed him into a parking lot.
The arrest came a day after Marlow allegedly went on a rampage 650 miles away in Butler Township, outside Dayton, Ohio, killing Clyde Knox, 82, and his wife Eva, 78, in one home and Sarah Anderson, 41, and her daughter, Kayla Anderson, a 15-year-old high school student, in another.
“This is the first violent crime in this neighborhood in recent memory,” Butler Police Chief John Porter said Saturday. "We are working to determine if there was any motive to this horrible tragedy or if mental illness played any role.”
Porter said he was aware of a TikTok video in which Marlow appeared to provide his explanation of the slayings, identifying himself as a “targeted individual” and claiming he was a victim of mind control.
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In the video, Marlow said he was planning a “counterattack” and would “gladly die to expose this.”
“Targeted individuals” is the phrase used by a community of people connected over the internet who suffer from paranoid delusions of mind control and gang-stalking. They may believe that nefarious forces are using implanted chip or sonic waves to torture them. In Porter’s case, he claimed “attackers” used “ventriloquism” to control their thoughts.
Marlow will now be extradited to Ohio to face charges.
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