A friend said the victim’s daughter tried to reach her mother after hearing that Jonathan Schmidt planned to hurt her.
SYLVANIA, Ohio — A warning message sent before a deadly home attack has become a key part of the case against a Sylvania man accused of killing his mother-in-law during a bitter divorce dispute.
Authorities say Jonathan Schmidt, 35, killed Marcia Sue Van Druten, 68, inside her Fox Hollow Court home on April 15. The Lucas County Coroner’s Office said Van Druten died from multiple blunt force trauma and ruled the death a homicide. Schmidt has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, murder, aggravated burglary and felonious assault. The case has drawn attention because family members were alerted before Van Druten was found and because the alleged attack happened while her husband was upstairs in the same house.
The warning reached Kinsey VanDruten, Schmidt’s wife and Marcia’s daughter, through one of Schmidt’s friends, according to Emily Hayman, Kinsey’s best friend. Hayman said the friend told Kinsey that Schmidt had sent a message saying he was going to hurt her mother. Kinsey called her mother again and again, Hayman said, but no one answered. She then called her father, who was in the home. The phone was near him. He heard it, went downstairs and found his wife. “That terrified Kinsey,” Hayman said in describing the moments before the discovery. Soon after, Hayman said Kinsey called her and repeated that Schmidt had killed her mother.
Police say the attack was not a quiet entry into the home. Reports say Schmidt shattered sliding glass doors with a crowbar to get inside. Van Druten’s husband was asleep upstairs and unaware of what was happening below. Officers responding to the area later found Van Druten dead at the home. The coroner’s office performed the autopsy on April 16 and released the cause and manner of death. The official release did not describe the full scene inside the house, how many times Van Druten was struck or whether investigators recovered fingerprints, blood evidence or other forensic material from the door and rooms. Those details remain part of the continuing criminal case.
The family crisis behind the warning began before that night. Schmidt and Kinsey VanDruten were going through divorce proceedings. Schmidt had filed for divorce, according to local reports. The case involved their young son, Hayes, who was born premature during the couple’s honeymoon about 15 months before the homicide. Reports say the divorce had become contentious, with disputes over custody and support. Subpoenas had gone to family members, including Marcia Van Druten. Those legal steps meant the victim was not outside the dispute. She had become part of the record in a family case that later formed the background for a murder prosecution.
Hayman has described Kinsey as afraid before her mother was killed. She told WTVG there had been times when Kinsey felt unsafe, including arguments in a car when Schmidt allegedly drove fast and made frightening statements. WTVG also reported that Schmidt had made threats against his parents in an earlier police report, though no charges were filed. WTOL reported that police had responded to domestic incidents involving Schmidt three times in the previous 10 months. Those reports are not verdicts and do not by themselves prove the charges in Van Druten’s death. They do, however, give prosecutors and investigators a record of prior calls and concerns as they review motive and risk.
After Van Druten was found, the investigation quickly crossed into Michigan. Authorities said Schmidt fled the area and was arrested the next morning in La Salle, Michigan, about 25 miles from Sylvania. Later reporting said deputies encountered him at a bar and that body-camera video captured the arrest. Investigators also found a rope, knife and hammer in his vehicle, according to local reporting. The Blade reported that officers recovered a noose and suicide note from Schmidt’s work area after his employer called. Police have not publicly explained the full meaning of each item. In court, prosecutors may use them to show conduct after the killing, while defense lawyers may argue they do not prove what happened inside the home.
The indictment now frames the alleged warning, break-in and beating as several crimes. The two aggravated murder counts give prosecutors alternate claims, including that Schmidt acted with planning or killed Van Druten while committing aggravated burglary. The two murder counts also offer separate legal theories. The aggravated burglary charge focuses on the alleged forced entry into an occupied home. The felonious assault charges address the violence that caused serious harm. Schmidt’s not guilty pleas mean each count must be proven in court. The state will need witnesses, records and physical evidence to connect the warning message, the entry and Van Druten’s injuries.
The public account of Van Druten’s life has come mostly from those close to her daughter. Hayman organized a fundraiser titled “For Kinsey and Hayes, Through Unimaginable Loss.” It described Marcia as a deeply loved mother and grandmother and said Kinsey was left to raise Hayes while grieving. The page had raised nearly $50,000 by early May. Hayman also told WTVG that Van Druten had survived breast cancer. Her comment captured the shock felt by friends, who saw the death not only as a criminal case but as the loss of a woman who had been central to her daughter and grandchildren.
The neighborhood setting adds another layer to the case. Fox Hollow Court is in a residential part of Sylvania, a city in the Toledo metro area. The alleged attack happened inside a family home at night, not in a public place. A husband was upstairs. A daughter was trying to reach her mother by phone. A friend was getting ready to help. That sequence has made the timing of calls and messages important. Investigators are expected to use phone records, video and witness statements to pin down when Schmidt was on the way, when the warning arrived and when Van Druten was attacked.
Several facts remain unknown. Authorities have not released the full text of the alleged warning message. They have not said whether Schmidt has given a formal statement to police, apart from testimony about an alleged speakerphone confession reported in court coverage. They have not made public all video from the neighborhood or all items collected from the home. Those gaps are normal at this stage, but they leave key questions for later hearings and possible trial testimony.
Schmidt remains in custody in Lucas County as the case proceeds. The next steps are expected to include discovery, motions over evidence and additional hearings that may determine how much of the warning history jurors could hear at trial.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.