SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Law enforcement officials are investigating a murder-suicide that occurred Tuesday morning.
According to Springfield Township police, Jennifer Waszil-Abshire, 44, was found stabbed to death inside a home on Moonlight Drive. When officers responded to the home, they saw blood on the floor through the window.
She was a special needs teacher in the Akron Public Schools at Betty Jane Elementary School.
Authorities say her husband, Thomas Abshire, 44, killed his wife before shooting himself during a traffic stop later in Doylestown.
Before he left the home, Thomas Abshire turned on the gas burners of the kitchen stove and tried to light fires inside the house, according to Springfield Township Sgt. Eric East.
Police also found the stove's gas burners on high when they broke in.
It was after that Thomas Abshire ran a red light in front of a Doylestown police officer about 3:30 a.m. The officer tried to stop the van. When it finally stopped, the officer found Abshire with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a gun on his lap.
Jennifer Abshire began working in Akron elementary schools as a special needs teacher in 1999.
The couple had been married for 13 years. Family members say the couple was supposed to leave for a boating trip that morning.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, and Springfield Township police detectives are investigating.
Stay with WKYC.com as more details become available.
