Daughter’s fiance indicted in teacher’s killing
A Cuyahoga CLEVELAND —
County grand jury has indicted a man on aggravated murder and other charges in the Oct. 23 stabbing and shooting death of his fiancee’s mother, a longtime Strongsville schoolteacher.
Jeffrey Scullin Jr., 20, who is in custody at the Cuyahoga County Jail on $1 million bond, is also charged with murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, making false alarms and endangering children in the killing of Melinda Pleskovic, according to court records.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Pleskovic, 49, was stabbed dozens of times and shot multiple times in the kitchen of the family’s Blazing Star Drive home, investigators said.
Scullin and Pleskovic’s husband, Bruce, each called 911 to report that they found her covered in blood.
Records say they got home from the the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar at Southwark Mall, where Pleskovic’s daughter waited tables. Bruce Pleskovic and Scullin both said she was supposed to meet them there for dinner, but they couldn’t get in touch with her, according to a charging affidavit.
Blood found on a tactical knife inside Scullin’s pickup truck matched Pleskovic, the indictment says. Scullin’s DNA was found on the handle of the knife, documents say.
Scullin had a history of disagreeing with Pleskovic, investigators say, and attacked her before dining with her husband and daughter.
A marriage license shows Scullin was engaged to Pleskovic’s daughter. They were set to get married Oct. 28.
Scullin reported an apparent attempted break-in at the home Oct. 19, a report shows. The false alarms charge is related to that call, according to court documents.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, in a news release Wednesday, called Pleskovic’s killing “brutal” and said it has been difficult for her family and the entire Strongsville community.