COLUMBUS, Ohio — Grove City police have identified a woman found dead at a motel on Wednesday and the man suspected in her death, who later died after jumping from a YMCA shelter window in Columbus while police were serving an arrest warrant.
Police said officers were called to the Motel 6 on Stringtown Road in Grove City at around 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday on a report of someone not breathing.
When officers arrived, they found 45-year-old Misty Davis, from West Virginia, not breathing.
Medics pronounced her dead at the scene and police said she died from an apparent strangulation.
"Obviously it's a sad day. We don't have a lot of violent crime in Grove City," Lieutenant Jason Stern.
Hotel staff told police they found her while cleaning, according to a police report.
Police said detectives learned Jason Goundry, 48, had been staying in the room with her.
“My understanding is she came up here to visit him and stayed in one of our hotels," said Lieutenant Jason Stern.
Goundry had been in a relationship with Davis within the past month, according to police.
Davis told police in West Virginia that Goundry had previously threatened to kill her.
Grove City police said Goundry stole Davis' Jeep when he left the motel and investigators filed a warrant for Goundry on a theft charge.
Police said they located Goundry later Wednesday night at the YMCA shelter on West Long Street in Columbus.
Columbus police told 10TV they assisted Grove City police in serving an arrest warrant for Goundry, who was staying on the seventh floor at the shelter.
Police said as officers opened the door, he jumped and landed on a third-story roof.
Officers tried to revive Goundry but police said he was pronounced dead just after 10 p.m.
Goundry was on parole after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery in Franklin County in June 2016.
He was sentenced to four years in prison and five years of post-release control. He was released from the Warren Correctional Institution on May 31, 2020, according to online records from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Help is available for domestic violence victims. The National Domestic Violence Hotline https://www.thehotline.org/ and 800-799-SAFE or https://www.odvn.org/find-help/.
There is also an automated directory to find a local Ohio program at 1-800-934-9840 or 614-781-9651,