A 30-year-old Dennison man was sentenced on Friday to the murders of 88-year-old Doyle and 79-year-old Lillian Chumney in January.
In court on Friday, Robert Clark, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count each of aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, and aggravated arson in connection Chumney murders.
As part of a plea deal, Clark will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Chumneys were first reported missing from their Strasburg home on January 21, 2015, and their remains were discovered the following day in their vehicle, which was found abandoned and burned on a secluded road in Coshocton County.
Investigators say Clark and his co-defendant, Jeffery Stewart, 21, of New Philadelphia, kidnapped and killed the couple after a home invasion. Authorities believe Clark shot both victims before the defendants lit their car on fire. Clark was arrested in early February in Mohave County, Arizona, after a nationwide manhunt.
“This brutal and senseless crime shocked those across the state and the nation, and this heartless killer deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison paying for his vicious actions," said Attorney General DeWine. "I commend the law enforcement officers and prosecutors who worked incredibly hard to bring this defendant to justice."
Stewart, who was arrested in late January after task force members released a surveillance photograph of him at an area gas station, is scheduled to go on trial in December.
