Woman gets life for killing, robbing elderly couple
John Blanc and Susan Castore trusted their former neighbor in Prairie Twp. and showed her kindness and generosity, the elderly couple’s children said Friday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Kelly Dale Vokas, 43, betrayed that trust, they said, robbing and then killing the couple by stabbing 77-year-old Blanc and strangling 75-year-old Castore at their home on Oct. 18, 2020.
There was no forced entry, Franklin County prosecutors said Friday in court, indicating the victims allowed their killer inside. Within minutes, they would try to call 911.
Vokas pleaded guilty in December to murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary in connection with the double homicide. Franklin County prosecutors dropped other charges, including two aggravated murder charges.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Holbrook sentenced Vokas on Friday to life in prison with the opportunity for parole after 37 years, the maximum possible sentence for the charges in her conviction.
Vokas has over two years of jail time credit, but will not have a chance to get out of prison until she is at least 78 years old — near the age of her victims, as the couple’s children had asked.
Vokas, who cried throughout the sentencing hearing Friday, apologized to the victims’ families.
“I did not react in the manner which I should have,” Vokas said. “I was not in my right state of mind and I do apologize.”
Francisco Luttecke, Vokas’ defense attorney, said Vokas had a difficult childhood full of abuse. At the time of the crime, he said, she was dealing with mental health issues and using drugs.
Luttecke asked Holbrook to give Vokas a glimmer of hope and acknowledge she is unlikely to get out the first time she goes before the parole board.
Holbrook, however, said this is one of the worst cases he’s seen.
Near the end of the sentencing hearing when Holbrook asked Vokas if she understood she would have to register as a violent offender if she gets out of prison, she responded, “If I’m alive, yes.”
Holbrook took offense at the response, saying it was disrespectful and Vokas was acting as if she were the victim.
The double-homicide
At about 3:20 p.m. on Oct. 18, 2020, Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 hang-up call at a home on the 200 block of Carilla Lane in the Lincoln Village subdivision in Prairie Twp.
A Franklin County Sheriff ’s deputy testified at the sentencing hearing Friday to the gruesome scene he and fellow officers came upon.
Through the window, deputies saw Vokas shoving items into her purse. Deputies ordered her to go to the door, but she attempted to flee out the back door, where a deputy apprehended her.
In her purse were Blanc’s and Castore’s IDs, Castore’s checkbook and a bag of coins.
Deputies then entered the home and found Blanc unresponsive in the first-floor bathroom with a total of six stab wounds to his head and neck. In the basement, deputies found Castore unresponsive with stab wounds and a rope tied around her head, neck and body.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jack Wong said at the sentencing hearing Friday that prosecutors were asking for the maximum sentence due to the “brutality of the way these two individuals died.”
Kids describe a generous couple
Several of Blanc and Castore’s children spoke reverently at the sentencing hearing Friday about their parents, who had been together for over two decades.
Blanc served in the U.S. Navy. Castore was known across Ohio as the A-OK Lady who wore a cape and gave out smiley faces.
Julie Blanc, John Blanc’s daughter, said the couple were an inspiration who truly lived their lives helping others.
“How can a human being been so cruel and take such evil actions towards an elderly couple that at many times had showed you kindness,” Julie Blanc said through tears.