‘PERSONAL’
“Steve, if you’re out there listening, call someone,” Williams said. “Whether it’s a friend or family member or pastor, give them a call, because they’re waiting on you to call them.”
The suspect, instead, called several friends after the murder, and even recorded one of the conversations.
“I shamed myself. I snapped, I snapped. I just snapped, I just killed 13 motherf------ man,” Stephens says on the phone in the five-minute video. “I'm about to keep killing until they catch me, f--- it. I’m telling them to catch me.”
In the video, Stephens also mentions that he works for Beech Brook, a youth counseling service in Cleveland. He was wearing his name badge in the video that identified him as a Beech Brook employee. He also takes a moment in another video to blame the killings on his girlfriend, saying that he woke up on Friday and just decided that he had enough.
“Now I’m just massacring people,” Stephens said with a laugh.
Though Stephens has claimed that he killed more than a dozen people, Cleveland police have said that Godwin is Stephens’ only known victim.
Williams said investigators had spoken with some of the people who have talked with Stephens since the murder, and that all of them, including his mother, were cooperating with authorities.
Those tips included a ping of Stephens’ phone in Erie, Pa., 100 miles east of Cleveland, and an alleged sighting in Philadelphia, which led officials there to lock down nine schools.
Officials said residents in Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Michigan should stay alert.
“I don’t think there’s anything that we can point to specifically to say, ‘This is what sparked this,’ ” Williams said.
Authorities identified Stephens’ car as a white Ford Fusion with a temporary tag E363630.
The description was posted throughout Ohio roadways on digital alert message boards.
An aggravated murder warrant has been issued for Stephens.
A search of Stephens’ residence led to police recovering weapons, Williams said, but no clues as to where he went. Williams urged the public to be cautious. He said Stephens should not be approached if he is spotted.