By MARYSVILLE JOURNAL-TRIBUNE STAFF
Union County officials said it was a call from a relative that led to the discovery of a mother and son, dead in their residence in Paris Township northwest of Marysville.
Craig Wickline, 50, and a woman that investigators believe to be his mother, Joyce Wickline, 83, were both found dead Saturday in their home at 18162 Dog Leg Road.
Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton said that at 5:25 p.m. that day his office received a phone call from a man asking deputies to check on his mother, Joyce Wickline and brother, Craig Wickline. The man, who does not live in the area, said his mother and brother live together in the home. He said he had not talked to his mother for some time and neither had her neighbor.
“The brother said anytime he would call, Craig would indicate she was not feeling well or she was laying down,” Patton said. “The concern was from the son and his wife and a neighbor that they hadn’t seen or talked to Joyce in quite a while.”
Patton said the brother said Craig “was always finding excuses for family members and friends why she was never available to talk.”
The sheriff said deputies went to the home and repeatedly tried to contact either resident but got no response from inside the home.
“Craig did not come out, even with family members talking to him,” Patton said.
He said that while Craig Wickline would not come out for police, he did speak with family members after they contacted the sheriff’s office.
“The family members, when they spoke with Craig the next time, advised that mom had passed away and that she wasn’t sick or laying down,” Patton said. “He was not forthcoming with how she had passed away or when she had passed away.”
The family noted that they last spoke with Craig Wickline at about 6:45 p.m.
“We had no contact with him on Saturday,” Patton said.
Based on that phone call and the inability to contact either the son or the mother, law enforcement officials were able to get a search warrant for the home.
“A search warrant was obtained based on the probable cause of failure to provide for a functionally impaired person and or abuse of a corpse,” Patton said.
Even while officials were working toward the search warrant, deputies were trying to contact Craig Wickline.
Patton said that at 10:39 p.m., members of the local special response team, which includes the Union and Logan County sheriff’s offices as well as the Plain City Police Department, entered the home to execute the search warrant.
“The house was not well maintained or well-kept inside. There was a lot of collected items and hoarding,” Patton said.
He added it was “very difficult to get into the home with the amount of collected items.”
The sheriff said that as the team went into the two-story house, “they discovered Craig Wickline deceased in the home.”
Lance Emberling, an investigator with the Union County Coroner’s Office said a preliminary investigation indicates Craig Wickline died of “a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head” from a Smith and Wesson .357 handgun.
Emberling said the man was pronounced dead at the scene at about 11:33 p.m. Saturday night. He said it appears the man may have shot himself earlier in the evening.
Investigators also found another, dressed body in another room. Officials said they believe the body was that of Joyce Wickline.
Emberling said he is estimating that Joyce Wickline had been dead “between six and eight months.”
He said the remains were “skeletonized.”
Both Patton and Emberling stressed they are using circumstances to presume the identity of the deceased woman.
“Because of the state her body was in, she was not identifiable at the time so we are going through some scientific measures to identify her,” Emberling said.
He said it appears as though the woman died of “natural causes but we are waiting to hear back from Montgomery County where the body was sent for autopsy.”
“Through the on-the scene investigation, we did not see anything obvious, that is why she was sent down to the crime lab for them to look over,” Emberling said.
The bodies of both Craig Wickline and Joyce Wickline were sent to Montgomery County for autopsy. He said the results of those autopsies will not be available for six to eight weeks.
“Right now, this is all a preliminary investigation into this. We are waiting to hear back on both of them before we make too many determinations,” Emberling said.
Patton said there was no history, with the occupants noting the only call for service to the home was for a medical call in 2021.
“At this point it is a joint investigation with our office and the coroner’s office,” Patton said.
Officials said part of that investigation will be to look into the physical and mental health history of both victims.
“There was concerns of mental health issues with Craig,” Patton said, noting that he does not know about the other issues.
“We don’t know what led to her passing,” Patton said. “It will be determined, hopefully, by the autopsy what led to her death.”
He said other questions may not be answered.
“Why did the son attempt to keep her body there and not contact officials?” Patton said. “We will hopefully investigate that hopefully get some answers, but we may never know those.”
Emberling said that to call the home chaotic “is an understatement.”
He said that while he has been an investigator for years, he has never seen an incident where a son lived with a deceased mother for months.
Union County authorities are investigating the deaths of a man and his elderly mother, whose bodies were found Saturday in this home at 18162 Dog Leg Road in Paris Township northwest of Marysville. (Marysville Journal-Tribune Photo)