Two people are dead inside a home in the 3700 block of Lakewood Drive in Green Township, and police say preliminary evidence points toward a murder-suicide. Officers were dispatched to the residence after the deaths were discovered, and the department’s Criminal Investigation Section has since opened a formal investigation into what happened inside the home.
Green Township police say the two people found at the scene were residents of the home, though officials have not identified either individual, according to WLWT. The Criminal Investigation Section responded to the scene and initiated the investigation, and police say preliminary findings and evidence recovered there indicated the incident is consistent with a murder-suicide. That determination, for now, remains a working theory rather than a final ruling.
Green Township police are working with the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, which is awaiting the results of autopsies before anything is confirmed. Under Ohio law, that distinction matters: while officers handle the active scene investigation, the coroner’s office holds sole statutory authority to determine official cause and manner of death. Ohio Revised Code Section 313.19 makes the coroner’s verdict, not a police department’s preliminary read on a scene, the legally accepted finding in any court proceeding, per the Ohio Revised Code.
Why the Coroner Has the Final Say
Ohio Revised Code Section 313.12 requires law enforcement and medical personnel to immediately notify the county coroner of any death involving violence, suicide, or unusual circumstances, which is what brought the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office into this case alongside Green Township officers, according to the Ohio Revised Code. The statute establishes a mandatory, multi-agency protocol for exactly this kind of scene, ensuring an independent medical determination follows the police response. Autopsies and toxicology work still need to be completed before the coroner’s office reaches a formal conclusion…