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Windham neighbor recalls seeing girl playing just hours before shootings in backyard
By Jim Carney and Kathy Antoniotti
Beacon Journal staff writers
POSTED: 10:44 a.m. EDT, May 29, 2009
WINDHAM: A few hours before a mother apparently shot and killed her 2-year-old daughter and herself in their backyard, the little girl was seen happily playing on a blue swing set next to the house.
''She was swinging back and forth'' and singing, ''Wee, wee,'' said Kayli Wojtasik, who lives across Green Drive from the one-story, brown-sided home of shooting victims Melisa Hall and her daughter, Naysa.
Windham police received a call at 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, Chief Edward M. Perdian said.
He said Hall sent a text message to a group of co-workers, telling them what she intended to do. One of those receiving the text alerted police in the village of about 2,800 people in northeastern Portage County.
Perdian did not release the body of the text message.
When police arrived, Hall, 29, and her daughter were dead, Perdian said. Their bodies were found on a futon in the backyard.
''It's a tragedy and it's sad,'' the police chief said.
Perdian said he has been in law enforcement for 30 years and has investigated suicides and murders during his career, ''but nothing like this.''
Hall was a part-time dispatcher for the Garrettsville Village Police Department for the past 11 years, a paramedic and emergency medical service coordinator for Community Ambulance Inc., and a volunteer firefighter for the Garrettsville Freedom Nelson Volunteer Fire Department, said Garrettsville police Chief Anthony Milicia.
A 9 mm handgun was recovered at the scene, said Tom Decker, chief investigator for the Portage County coroner. Sheriff David Doak said the victims had been shot in the head.
The state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation assisted the sheriff's office and Windham police with the investigation.
Autopsies were scheduled for Thursday, Decker said.
Perdian said Hall was distraught over the death of a grandmother and over finances.
''She was struggling with that a lot,'' Perdian said.
According to Portage County Common Pleas Court records, HSBC Bank sued Hall earlier this month in a dispute over unpaid credit card bills of $18,152.
Perdian and Milicia offered their condolences to Hall's family, as well as to co-workers.
''I will work any way we can to help them get through this,'' Perdian said.
Wojtasik, 29, a mother of two children, said she did not know Hall, who had lived in the home in her neighborhood for about 18 months, but would see her occasionally planting flowers.
''She kept to herself,'' Wojtasik said.
She said there had been a futon on the side of the house that Hall had moved to the backyard.
Wojtasik said neighbors told her that 15 minutes before the incident they had asked Hall if they could cut through her backyard and she told them to go ahead.
The baby on the swing, sometimes playing with a flashlight, is what Wojtasik said she couldn't stop thinking about Thursday.
''She was happy-go-lucky,'' Wojtasik said.
''Knowing that the baby was happy-go-lucky, swinging in the swing, and then shooting her,'' she said, upset her.
''I don't know whether to cry or to throw up,'' Wojtasik said.
Beacon Journal staff writer Phil Trexler contributed to this report. Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com. Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.
WINDHAM: A few hours before a mother apparently shot and killed her 2-year-old daughter and herself in their backyard, the little girl was seen happily playing on a blue swing set next to the house.
''She was swinging back and forth'' and singing, ''Wee, wee,'' said Kayli Wojtasik, who lives across Green Drive from the one-story, brown-sided home of shooting victims Melisa Hall and her daughter, Naysa.
Windham police received a call at 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, Chief Edward M. Perdian said.
He said Hall sent a text message to a group of co-workers, telling them what she intended to do. One of those receiving the text alerted police in the village of about 2,800 people in northeastern Portage County.
Perdian did not release the body of the text message.
When police arrived, Hall, 29, and her daughter were dead, Perdian said. Their bodies were found on a futon in the backyard.
''It's a tragedy and it's sad,'' the police chief said.
Perdian said he has been in law enforcement for 30 years and has investigated suicides and murders during his career, ''but nothing like this.''
Hall was a part-time dispatcher for the Garrettsville Village Police Department for the past 11 years, a paramedic and emergency medical service coordinator for Community Ambulance Inc., and a volunteer firefighter for the Garrettsville Freedom Nelson Volunteer Fire Department, said Garrettsville police Chief Anthony Milicia.
A 9 mm handgun was recovered at the scene, said Tom Decker, chief investigator for the Portage County coroner. Sheriff David Doak said the victims had been shot in the head.
The state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation assisted the sheriff's office and Windham police with the investigation.
Autopsies were scheduled for Thursday, Decker said.
Perdian said Hall was distraught over the death of a grandmother and over finances.
''She was struggling with that a lot,'' Perdian said.
According to Portage County Common Pleas Court records, HSBC Bank sued Hall earlier this month in a dispute over unpaid credit card bills of $18,152.
Perdian and Milicia offered their condolences to Hall's family, as well as to co-workers.
''I will work any way we can to help them get through this,'' Perdian said.
Wojtasik, 29, a mother of two children, said she did not know Hall, who had lived in the home in her neighborhood for about 18 months, but would see her occasionally planting flowers.
''She kept to herself,'' Wojtasik said.
She said there had been a futon on the side of the house that Hall had moved to the backyard.
Wojtasik said neighbors told her that 15 minutes before the incident they had asked Hall if they could cut through her backyard and she told them to go ahead.
The baby on the swing, sometimes playing with a flashlight, is what Wojtasik said she couldn't stop thinking about Thursday.
''She was happy-go-lucky,'' Wojtasik said.
''Knowing that the baby was happy-go-lucky, swinging in the swing, and then shooting her,'' she said, upset her.
''I don't know whether to cry or to throw up,'' Wojtasik said.
Beacon Journal staff writer Phil Trexler contributed to this report. Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com. Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Make the world a better place... punch a Steeler fan in the face, .
Posted 11:15 AM, 05/29/2009
Please, nobody come with the guns or any other sort of agenda. This is a tragic story and let's not politicize it.
Man, life really sucks sometimes.
Posted 11:21 AM, 05/29/2009
well said Jason-
my thoughts go out to the family, friends and neighbors.
Akron, Oh
Posted 11:23 AM, 05/29/2009
Amen to that, TOJ....so sad!
Canton, OH
Posted 11:33 AM, 05/29/2009
A moment of silence and prayer.
Posted 12:00 PM, 05/29/2009
Why do people feel the need to take their children with them when they commit suicide? That is the really upsetting part, that she killed this poor defenseless kid who she should have loved and fought to protect.
Condolences to the family, a loss of this kind is something that is the worst kind of tragedy.
AKRON, ohio
Posted 01:47 PM, 05/29/2009
@ urteemstinxx you should have pity for her family asshat,not be posting stupid, hateful bs anonymously on a message board. you suck
akron, oh
Posted 02:23 PM, 05/29/2009
My prayers are with the family.
wadsworth, oh
Posted 03:03 PM, 05/29/2009
How do you shoot your daughter like it is a sick dog?? Or maybe because she knew she would whack herself it just didn't matter?? How sad. Life can never be that bad. That's why there is beer.
Barberton, OH
Posted 03:55 PM, 05/29/2009
R.I.P Melissa and Naysa Hall-may god be with you now.
Canton, OH
Posted 04:33 PM, 05/29/2009
wsp means what? is that your name or are you calling me out yet cower behind your own avatar. Can't have both ways hypocrite/WSP.
m, m
Posted 07:05 PM, 05/29/2009
how sad. her 'debt' probably started out as little as $4000. sometimes young adults think there is no other way out. may they both be smiling together now.
akron, oh
Posted 12:13 AM, 05/30/2009
the banks are greedy. You are right David probably started out that low and after they added there fines and fees and interest it was 18,000. That would be enough to scare and push a single mom over the edge. today really sucks.what a sad sad thing
Posted 03:09 AM, 05/30/2009
Heres my explanation on why you would take the child's life too...
So that the child doesn't have to live all of their lives without a mother and/or father. Especially knowing how it was done and why.
Probably saved the kid years of pain.
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:46 AM, 05/30/2009
This world can be too much for some good people. That sweet baby is safe in the arms of Jesus.
My heart bleeds for the family
Posted 10:45 AM, 05/30/2009
Marc you are a... to use a term again, asshat for your post. That girl was 2 with 70 years ahead of her to get over this.
And she had another parent and grandparents that loved her.
Death is nothing but a cowards way out.
Marc please stay away from guns knives and......me.
Asheville (raised in Akron), NC
Posted 03:56 PM, 05/30/2009
She killed her baby because religion falsely teaches that a child will go to heaven. She most likely felt the child was better off.
Posted 04:11 PM, 05/30/2009
Ever been to Windham? Man, what a hole of a place....
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:18 PM, 05/30/2009
Why are you people above arguing. This is common for that race of people.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:17 PM, 05/30/2009
Steve said it all for me in his post yesterday...rite on Steve, I can say no more!
@Ms Blackfantastic...if u read the above post of The Orginal Jason, u would have known better than 2 use this incident as ur racial agenda...leave that 2me, u ignorant black girl cause u r stupid and insulting 2 our race!
rootstown, oh
Posted 03:13 AM, 05/31/2009
@gildee-the way you express yourself with ghetto text abbreviations offends me.plus that you're an idiot does not help your cause.
Akron, Oh
Posted 07:44 AM, 05/31/2009
Thank you Toxic Nut. She sounds like a young hood rat that is unaware of what's going on with her own race.
Posted 09:48 AM, 05/31/2009
I wish she would have talked to someone but to take the child with her is unbelievable to me that someone could do that. God bless them and the families and friends left behind.
Akron, OH
Posted 01:51 PM, 05/31/2009
with how bad the world is these days people have a lot on thier minds...im not saying at all that that is a reason to kill yourself or others but some people feel that way. I had a friend in high school that committed suicide and i was upset over it for a very long time and her reasoniing was over being upset and not feeling like she should be here and for a while a i was kind of angry that she would do that i just didnt understand why...but i beleive shes in a better place. This is sad.
Corvallis, OR
Posted 06:41 PM, 06/09/2009
Windham may be a "hole" to some, and to be honest, I left at first opportunity...but it is still a small cohesive COMMUNITY of people who do care for each other. A tragedy like this is hard in a lot of places, but it's particularly acute to those who have deep roots planted in a town and whose families go back at least 5 generation. This sort of thing can tear a town to pieces so have a care and think before making insensitive comments.
