George Brinkman, age 45, was taken into police custody at 5:30 this morning following a standoff with authorities that lasted almost nine hours. He was arrested at a home in Brunswick, OH, in connection with a triple homicide committed Sunday night. The bodies of Suzanne Taylor, age 45, and her daughters, 18-year-old Kylie Pifer, and 21-year-old Taylor Pifer were found in North Royalton, OH. Brinkman was Facebook acquaintances with the mother.
Following Brinkman’s arrest, Stark County Sheriff's Office obtained arrest warrants saying he also might have shot to death 64-year-old Roberta Ray John and Rogell E.
John II, her 71-year-old husband, in Lake Township on Monday. Their bodies were found after Rogell’s son tried but could not reach them on Sunday after the couple had come home from vacation. Rogell didn’t show up to work at the family’s business on Monday. When his son went to check on him, his son discovered his father and his stepmother dead.
Detective Dave Loeding, North Royalton Police Department, said the suspect had evidence in his possession that tied him to the Johns’ deaths. Allegedly, he had dated the victims’ daughter and he was watching the couple’s home while they vacationed.
Suspected killer subdued and taken into custody
The suspect was taken into custody and, then, to a hospital to be evaluated after he was subdued with a Taser by Swat officers, said Lieutenant Robert Safran, Brunswick Police.
Brinkman barricaded himself in a home with an unlocked door, which is how SWAT entered.
A 911 call from Suzanne Taylor’s boyfriend, Scott Plymale, prompted the police to respond to her home. Her eldest daughter’s boyfriend, Dale Koster, discovered the bodies, Plymale told a 911 dispatcher He also explained that Koster picked the lock when no one answered the door.
Koster called Plymale earlier saying something was wrong. All of the cars were at the home and all of the doors were locked. Koster also did not hear the women’s dog. When he went to the home on Saturday, dropping off flowers, he noticed the women’s cars there and Brinkman’s car in the driveway. The mother and her daughters were found in Suzanne’s bed.
Accused killer’s criminal past
Brinkman was first arrested for receiving stolen property and unauthorized access of a computer system in Cuyahoga County, OH, in September 1998, according to the Daily Mail online. He was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty. He was charged with theft, forgery and receiving stolen property in December 1999. He was sentenced in February 2000 and was released from prison in September 2000.
During the hours leading to this morning’s arrest, Brinkman was armed and holed up at his friend’s detached home in Brunswick. He was threatening to kill himself and was drinking whiskey while he was barricaded inside. Police sealed off the ear and told neighbors to stay inside.
As officers used bullhorn negotiating with him to give up peacefully, FBI and SWAT officers surrounded the house. Police marksmen trained their guns on the house. After police entered, and took Brinkman into custody, he didn’t say anything, police said. He is in custody of North Royalton Police Department.
