ASHLAND, Ohio – Murder suspect Nate Summerfield is in custody, U.S. Marshals confirmed Wednesday morning.
The 27-year-old Ashland man was wanted in connection with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Lynn Jackenheimer, who was found dead in North Carolina.
U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott said in a news conference that Summerfield was arrested at 9:30 a.m. at the Legacy Inn and Suites, a hotel in Wadsworth (Medina County) where he checked in under a fictitious name and had been staying for one day.
Elliott said Summerfield was unarmed at the time of the arrest and did not put up resistance. He said Summerfield has a full beard now but does not look drastically different.
“Today, Ashland County brought Nate Summerfield to justice,” Elliott said.
NewsChannel5 Chief Investigator Ron Regan spoke to Marilyn Vickers, a member of the cleaning crew at the hotel where Summerfield was captured. Vickers said she saw a man with a dog come out of room 211, get into a pickup truck and drive away. Seconds later, cops converged upon that room from all directions with guns drawn. The cleaning crew was brought into another room for safety, where they heard authorities yelling “get down, get down.”
Summerfield checked into the hotel at 8 a.m. Tuesday under the name “Jay Summerfield.” He listed an address in Polk, Ohio, and a 1999 vehicle for which the writing was not readable. The check-in clerk told Regan that Summerfield did not appear unusual. He wore a T-shirt and jeans, entered alone and requested a smoking room for one night.
Summerfield is currently in Medina County Jail. He will be extradited to North Carolina to face charges.
Ashland County Sheriff E. Wayne Risner spoke plainly to Lynn Jackenheimer’s family.
“Know this — you have a whole community behind you. You are neighbors and we’ll take care of you,” Risner said.
According to police, Jackenheimer, Summerfield, their 3-year-old son and Jackenheimer’s 13-year-old daughter went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for vacation over the Fourth of July. On July 8, Summerfield dropped the children off with a family member and hasn’t been seen since.
His brother called 911, saying his brother told him he killed Jackenheimer.
“My brother was in North Carolina with his ex-girlfriend. He came back and said he strangled her, he dropped his kid off and left,” said Summerfield’s brother, Jake, to the dispatcher.
There were numerous reports of sightings of Summerfield, but nothing definitive until Wednesday
Murder Suspect Nate Summerfield Captured By U.S. Marshals! was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
