Cops: Suspect in elderly pair’s deaths went on robbery spree

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio (AP) – A man wanted in the abduction and killing of an elderly couple in northeast Ohio last month is suspected of committing a string of armed robberies over the weekend in three states.

Robert Clark, 29, along with a man and a woman from the Canton area, are believed to be involved in two armed robberies in West Virginia on Saturday, one Sunday afternoon in South Carolina and one in Georgia on Sunday night, said Tuscarawas County Chief Deputy Orvis Campbell. All of the robberies occurred at gas stations or convenience stores.

Clark is a suspect in the slayings of Doyle Chumney, 88, and his 79-year-old wife, Lillian. They were reported missing Jan. 21 from their home in Strasburg, south of Canton, after they failed to pick up their son to give him a ride to an airport. The couple’s remains were found in the front passenger compartment of their badly burned car the next day on a country road in Coschocton County.

Authorities say there was evidence of a struggle inside the Chumneys’ home.

A second suspect in the slayings, Jeffery Stewart, 21, was arrested on Saturday and charged with murder. Authorities have said Stewart made incriminating statements and implicated Clark in the abductions and killings.

Campbell said Monday that Clark is desperate and dangerous.

“We’ll be really lucky if he doesn’t kill somebody else,” Campbell said.

Records show that Clark was released from prison in May 2014 after serving 4 ½ years for convictions on robbery, burglary, breaking and entering and receiving stolen property charges. He received a three-year prison sentence in 2005 for convictions on theft and breaking and entering charges but served only three months after being granted judicial release.