George Brinkman was sentenced to death by the State of Ohio for five murders
According to court documents George Brinkman would begin his reign of terror with the murders of Suzanne Taylor and her two daughters, twenty-one-year-old Taylor Pifer and eighteen-year-old Kylie Pifer.
George Brinkman would then head to another home where he would murder seventy-one-year-old Rogell “Gene” John and his sixty-four-year-old wife Roberta “Bobbi” John. Brinkman,
George Brinkman would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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George Brinkman is incarcerated at Chillicothe Correctional Institution
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¶ 3} The John family had known Brinkman for some time. According to
Gene’s son, Jason, the family met Brinkman a decade earlier when Brinkman
started dating Jason’s half-sister. After that relationship ended, Brinkman
continued to work for a company co-owned by Jason and Gene and spent some
holidays with the John family.
{¶ 4} In June 2017, Brinkman house- and dog-sat for the Johns at their
home in North Canton while they were away on vacation. The Johns were
scheduled to return home on Sunday, June 11.
{¶ 5} The next day, Jason learned that Gene had not shown up for work.
Unable to reach Gene or Bobbi, Jason called Brinkman, who told him that the
couple had arrived home around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Brinkman told Jason that
Bobbi had not been feeling well and had gone to lie down but that he had stayed
and talked with Gene for a few hours before he left their house.
{¶ 6} After work, Jason went straight to the Johns’ home, where he
discovered their bodies in an upstairs bedroom. He called 9-1-1. Deputies from
the Stark County Sherriff’s Office reported to the scene. They found Gene’s body
on the bedroom floor, underneath a blood-soaked comforter with bullet holes in it.
A black wallet lay on the floor near Gene’s left hand. Bobbi’s body was on the
bed, covered with a sheet. And there was a bloodstained pillow with bullet holes
in it on the floor next to the bed.
B. Brinkman is arrested and interviewed
{¶ 7} Jason gave the deputies Brinkman’s cell-phone number and address.
The deputies “pinged” Brinkman’s phone to pinpoint its GPS location and then
forwarded that information to the Brunswick and North Royalton police
departments. North Royalton police tracked Brinkman down and took him into
custody on June 13. That day, Stark County Deputy Sheriff Craig Kennedy
interviewed Brinkman at the North Royalton police department. Brinkman denied
having anything to do with the John murders.
{¶ 8} The next day, Deputy Sheriff Rick Stauffer and FBI Agent Andrew
Earl interviewed Brinkman. Brinkman said that he housesat for the Johns during
the past week while they were on vacation. He told the investigators that on the
day the Johns were expected to return from vacation, he noticed an M1911 handgun
in an open box on Gene’s desk. He saw rounds nearby and put them into the clip
and placed the clip into the gun. He then moved through the house, pointing and
pretending to shoot the gun as he went. When he saw the Johns arrive home, he
put the gun down and helped carry in their luggage.
{¶ 9} According to Brinkman, Bobbi “started yelling” at him soon after she
walked into the house, and she accused him of neglecting the dog. While Bobbi
and Brinkman were going at it, Gene spotted the gun and asked why it was out of
its box. Brinkman grabbed the gun and told the Johns to “shut up.” When the Johns
continued yelling at him, Brinkman ordered them upstairs to the guest bedroom at
gunpoint. (Brinkman said that he had picked that bedroom because it was farthest
from the neighbors, who had a young child.)
{¶ 10} Brinkman ordered the Johns to sit on the bed. But when he turned
to leave the room, he heard Gene get off the bed behind him. Brinkman turned
back around and, in his telling, the gun just “went off,” shooting Gene in the hip.
Although he had admitted to loading the gun, Brinkman claimed that he had not
known that there was a round in the chamber.
{¶ 11} According to Brinkman, Bobbi started “freaking out” after he shot
Gene, so he pointed the gun at her and told her to shut up. Brinkman threw a
comforter to Gene to stop the bleeding and started hitting Bobbi on her head with
the butt of the gun because she would not be quiet. When Gene tried to stand up,
Brinkman shot him twice more. Brinkman then pushed Bobbi’s head down onto
the bed and continued to beat her with the butt of the gun. Bobbi kept screaming
so Brinkman covered her head with a pillow and shot her. He put pillows under
Gene’s body so that Gene “would be comfortable.” But Bobbi was still making
gurgling sounds and trying to talk, so Brinkman held a pillow over her face for five
to ten minutes until she was quiet. He covered the two dead bodies with blankets.
{¶ 12} Brinkman took the four spent shell casings, the Johns’ cell phones,
and $140 in cash from their wallets. Before leaving the house, he showered and
changed clothes. He later disposed of his bloody clothes, the cell phones, and the
gun somewhere on I-77 or I-71
https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2022/2022-ohio-2550.pdf
