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Joyce Rinehart of Ossian was shocked when she heard a teenager had been shot and killed near her rural northern Wells County home Wednesday night.
Rinehart, who has lived 23 years in a home about a mile west from the shooting scene, said her dog was barking around 8:30 p.m., but she didn’t think anything of it. Now she wonders whether it was an indication of what was happening nearby.
“It’s sort of scary,” Rinehart said.
Wells County sheriff’s deputies were investigating the slaying of Uniondale resident Justin Sprow, 19. They say he was shot to death through the windshield of his car.
Less than 48 hours earlier, deputies were called to a fatal shooting southwest of Bluffton.
Police said Amy White, 28, was killed by her estranged husband at his parent’s rural Bluffton home Tuesday morning. Her husband, Tyler White, 27, is charged with murder.
In this rural county, which has a population of fewer than 28,000 people, chatter was abundant Thursday morning at The Brew Ha! espresso cafe in Ossian, where Rinehart works.
“People have an assumption that it’s safe out in the country. … It can happen anywhere,” said co-worker Megan Milholland, 20, of Bluffton.
Most years, Wells County has no homicides, according to Sheriff Robert Frantz. He has been in law enforcement for 37 years in Wells County and said he has never worked two homicides in one week. He recalls no more than five fatal shootings during his career.
“The week’s not over; that’s the scary part,” he said, adding that his department’s manpower is stretched with all the work to be done. “Finding out who did it and getting them arrested is (only) a small part of this.”
People in this typically quiet county mostly went about their lives as usual Thursday on a mild October day. But they kept the recent bloodshed in the back of their minds, and many expressed anguish over the news.
Bluffton resident Hilda Gutwein, 77, said spiritual guidance is a big help.
“A lot of people are praying,” she said. “Prayer is important during this time.”
Gutwein believes the economy has a lot to do with the recent violence – making people resort to taking actions they otherwise would not.
“People are stressed out,” Rinehart said.
Bluffton Mayor Ted Ellis called the slayings a “horrible coincidence” and said people outside the county are wondering, “What’s going on?” Bluffton has a population of about 9,500.
“We are not used to having people in these situations,” he said.
But in a small community, people will rally in support of the victims’ families, Bluffton resident Pam Vanderkolk said. Her seven children grew up with the White family’s children.
“I’ve just always felt like it’s a safe community to raise my family – and still do,” she said.
