COSCHOCTON, Ohio -- A man charged with robbing, killing and burning the bodies of an elderly Ohio couple has pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and other charges.
He has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Thirty-year-old Robert Clark's sentencing on Friday in Coshocton County.
That means he won't face the death penalty for killing 88-year-old Doyle Chumney and 79-year-old Lillian Chumney of Strasburg.
The bodies of 88-year-old Doyle Chumney and 79-year-old Lillian Chumney were found inside their burned-out vehicle the day after they were reported missing late in January. Their home had been ransacked.
Authorities say Clark and 21-year-old Jeffery Stewart broke into the couple's home in January, bound them with duct tape and then drove the couple to a rural road in Coshocton County where Clark shot them.
Stewart told investigators that Lillian Chumney was still alive when the couple's car was torched. Stewart has pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping and other charges.
Clark's attorneys couldn't immediately be reached.
The Chumneys were first reported missing from their Strasburg home on January 21, 2015, and their remains were discovered the following day in their vehicle, which was found abandoned and burned on a secluded road in Coshocton County.
According to the investigation conducted by a multi-jurisdictional task force formed to investigate the case, it is believed that Clark and his co-defendant, Jeffery Stewart, 21, of New Philadelphia, kidnapped and killed the couple after a home invasion. Authorities believe Clark shot both victims before the defendants lit their car on fire. Clark was arrested in early February in Mohave County, Arizona, after a nationwide manhunt.
The Coshocton County Prosecutor's Office prosecuted the case with assistance from prosecutors from Attorney General DeWine's Special Prosecutions Section and the Tuscarawas County Prosecutor's Office. Agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) were also part of the task force that investigated the crime.
"This brutal and senseless crime shocked those across the state and the nation, and this heartless killer deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison paying for his vicious actions," said Attorney General DeWine. "I commend the law enforcement officers and prosecutors who worked incredibly hard to bring this defendant to justice."
"Today's plea agreement was made with the support of Mr. and Mrs. Chumney's family, who expressed concerns about the stress of a lengthy trial, a potential death penalty sentencing phase, and appeals, which would have hindered their ability to try to find closure as it relates to the justice system," said Coshocton County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Given. "This outcome for the family would not have been possible without the superb work of the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office, Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office, and BCI."
In addition to BCI, authorities from the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office, Strasburg Police Department, Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office, Coshocton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Tuscarawas County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and Coshocton County Coroner's Office made up the task force that investigated the case.
Stewart, who was arrested in late January after task force members released a surveillance photograph of him at an area gas station, is scheduled to go on trial in December.
