Suspect in Facebook video killing shoots himself to death
Mark Gillispie | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 7 months AGO
A makeshift memorial sits along a fence Monday, April 17, 2017, near where Robert Godwin Sr., was killed in Cleveland. Police said Steve Stephens killed Godwin on Sunday and posted the video on Facebook. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
This Sunday, April 16, 2017 frame from video posted on Facebook shows Robert Godwin Sr. in Cleveland moments before being fatally shot. The search for murder suspect Steve Stephens put authorities in surrounding states on the lookout Monday after police said the man might have left Ohio. (Facebook via AP)
FILE - In this Wednesday, May 16, 2012, file photo, a Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPad, in New York. A Facebook video of an Ohio man shooting a 74-year-old retiree in Cleveland was up for three hours Sunday, April 16, 2017, after it was posted, raising questions about the social-media network's process for taking down objectionable content posted by its users. The company said it does not allow such "horrific crime" on Facebook. It did not immediately respond to further questions about the incident. (AP Photo/James H. Collins, File)
CORRECTS TO CLARIFY THE VIDEO WAS NOT BROADCAST ON FACEBOOK LIVE AS POLICE INITIALLY INDICATED, BUT POSTED AFTER THE KILLING - This undated photo provided by the Cleveland Police shows Steve Stephens. Cleveland police said they are searching for Stephens, a homicide suspect, who recorded himself shooting another man and then posed the video on Facebook on Sunday, April 16, 2017. (Cleveland Police via AP)
An armor police vehicle drives through Fairmount park in Philadelphia, Monday, April 17, 2017. Authorities in several states are on the lookout for a man police say shot a Cleveland retiree collecting aluminum cans and then posted video of the apparently random killing on Facebook. The suspect is identified as Steve Stephens, a 37-year-old job counselor. Police in Philadelphia say they have "no indication" that the suspect in an apparently random killing in Cleveland is in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Alexis Lee, a childhood friend of Steve Stephens, speaks with a neighbor near Stephens' childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday, April 17, 2017. Authorities in Cleveland have expanded their manhunt nationwide for Stephens, a man suspected of gunning down a retiree and posting a video of the crime on Facebook. (AP Photo/Dake Kang)
Steve Stephens' childhood home, left, is shown as neighbors chat down the street in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday, April 17, 2017. Authorities in Cleveland have expanded their manhunt nationwide for Stephens, a man suspected of gunning down a retiree and posting a video of the crime on Facebook. (AP Photo/Dake Kang)
CLEVELAND (AP) — The man who randomly killed a Cleveland retiree and posted video of the crime on Facebook shot himself to death in his car Tuesday during a police chase in Pennsylvania, ending a multistate manhunt less than 48 hours after it began.
Acting on a tip, Pennsylvania State Police spotted Steve Stephens, 37, in Erie County, in the state's northwest corner, and went after him. After a brief chase, he took his own life, authorities said.
"This started with one tragedy and ended with another person taking their own life," said Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams. "We would have liked to have brought Steve in peacefully and really talked to him about why this happened."
Stephens, a job counselor who worked with teenagers and young people, was wanted on an aggravated murder charge in the shooting of Robert Godwin Sr., a 74-year-old man who was picking up aluminum cans on Sunday when he was gunned down.
Stephens posted a video of himself killing Godwin, a former foundry worker and a father of 10. "I snapped, I just snapped," Stephens said.
Police would not speculate on what was behind the killing, but in the video and other footage he posted, Stephens talked about losing everything he had to gambling and having trouble with his girlfriend.
One of Godwin's daughters, Debbie Godwin, said she wished Stephens had been captured.
"I'm not happy he's dead at all, not at all. If you did it, you have to face your crime," she said.
The break in the case came when police received a tip that Stephens' car was in a McDonald's parking lot, Willlams said.
The chase lasted 2 miles, and troopers managed to disable Stephens' car, state police said. As his car was spinning out of control, he shot himself in the head with a pistol, police said. A pursuing trooper's car slid into Stephens' vehicle, but the officer was not injured.
Law enforcement officials had said on Monday that Stephens' cellphone was last tracked Sunday afternoon near Erie, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Cleveland.
Williams said Tuesday that it wasn't clear whether Stephens had any help while he was on the run or where he had been and that investigators will try to retrace he steps.
The video of the killing was up for three hours before it was taken down, raising questions about Facebook's handling of objectionable material posted by its users. Facebook said it removed the video 23 minutes after learning of it.
In the video of the shooting, Stephens told Godwin the name of his girlfriend and said, "She's the reason that this is about to happen to you." Godwin did not seem to recognize the name.
The woman Stephens spoke of, Joy Lane, said in a text message to CBS that "we had been in a relationship for several years. I am sorry that all of this has happened."
Investigators said that Godwin was the only victim so far linked to Stephens, despite his claim on Facebook that he killed over a dozen people.
Detectives spoke with the suspect on Sunday by cellphone and tried to persuade him to surrender, police said.
Within a day, authorities expanded the search nationwide and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Rubinkam in Pennsylvania, Dake Kang and Delano Massey in Cleveland, John Seewer in Toledo and Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.