A Summit County grand jury has indicted an Akron man on murder charges in the fatal shooting of a 61-year-old woman inside the Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium earlier this month, the Akron Beacon Journal reported, citing Summit County Common Pleas Court records. Craig Sipe, 63, now faces charges of aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault, along with firearm specifications, according to the court records cited by the Beacon Journal.
The shooting happened just after 9:30 a.m. on October 18 at the Natatorium, the city’s indoor aquatic and fitness facility, in what Cuyahoga Falls police believed to be a domestic-related incident, the Beacon Journal reported. The victim was Sharon Dorn, 61, according to the Beacon Journal’s reporting.
Sipe fled the scene after the shooting but later turned himself in to police, the Beacon Journal reported. The case began in Stow Municipal Court, where Sipe pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated murder and his bond was set at $1 million, according to the Beacon Journal.
Because the charges are felonies, the case has now moved to Summit County Common Pleas Court and went before a grand jury, which returned the indictment, the Beacon Journal reported. As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, no judge had yet been assigned to the case and no attorney was listed as representing Sipe in the court records, the Beacon Journal reported.
The indictment is an accusation, not a conviction, and the case will now proceed through arraignment and pretrial hearings in common pleas court. Court proceedings will determine how the charges are tried, and any trial date will be set by the assigned judge once the case is formally arraigned.
For Cuyahoga Falls, the shooting at a busy public recreation facility has remained a painful subject since October 18. The Natatorium is a central gathering place for swimmers, fitness classes and families in the city, and the case moving into common pleas court marks the next formal step in the legal process.
NewsForce247 will follow the case as court records are updated in Summit County Common Pleas Court. Anyone with information about the October 18 shooting who has not yet spoken with investigators should contact Cuyahoga Falls police.