CANTON, Ohio — A Plain Township man is in custody as the Stark County Sheriff's Office announced that a missing 24-year-old woman has been found dead.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Stark County Sheriff George Meier said Canton sanitation workers discovered the body "believed to be that of Raychel Sheridan" earlier that morning in the southwest part of the city.
Meier also announced that Sheridan's live-in boyfriend, 26-year-old Sean Goe, was captured earlier on Wednesday morning by the Canton Police Department after he fled from deputies the day before.
At this point, Goe is being considered by the Stark County Sheriff's Office as "a suspect in connection with an ongoing homicide investigation."
Authorities were first called to the 4100 block of Orchard Dale Drive Northwest just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday to do a welfare check on Sheridan.
Meier said deputies "found the apartment to be empty with the door open," adding that areas of the apartment were "suspicious," which prompted investigators to obtain a search warrant of the residence.
While waiting on the search warrant to be executed, deputies saw a maroon Jeep Liberty believed to be registered to Sheridan driving in the area of 38th Street and Guilford Avenue Northwest.
According to officials, deputies initiated a traffic stop and made brief contact with the driver, who they identified as Goe, before he ran off.
The officers chased after him and deployed a K-9 to search the "dense, wooded area," but Goe was able to elude capture. Meier said Canton police found him in a homeless center in the early morning hours Wednesday.
Stark County Sheriff's officials say Goe had multiple active warrants out for his arrest, including burglary, grand theft of a firearm and charges of domestic violence that involved Sheridan. Goe is currently being held in the Stark County Jail on the warrant charges. Bond was set at $1 million.
Meier explained that detectives discovered "evidence of foul play" inside the apartment as they were executing the search warrant, determining that Sheridan had been murdered inside the residence. Her body was discovered at approximately 9:24 a.m., although Meier did not specify the exact location where it was found.
"Our heart goes out to the community, the family for this loss. It's another tragic death that certainly is unfortunate to our community and we like to think is certainly preventable," Meier added. "Domestic violence is a horrible cycle and folks that are caught in that cycle need to know that there is help out there."
The investigation remains ongoing.
You can watch the Stark County Sheriff's Office briefing in the player below.
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