Two teen boys arrested in the death of Victoria Schafer Ohio photographer who was killed when a log was pushed off a cliff at Hocking Hills State Park, killing her instantly.
Two teenage boys have been arrested and charged with reckless homicide in the death of a woman who was struck and killed by a falling log at an Ohio state park last month.
Victoria Schafer’s September 2 death had initially been ruled an accident, but after a preliminary investigation authorities discovered evidence the log had been pushed or thrown off a cliff at Hocking Hills State Park, before fatally striking her.
Shafer, 44, a professional photographer from Chillicothe, was taking photographs with five of her students near Old Man’s Cave, when the log, weighing 74 pounds, fell around 75 feet off the cliff and landed on top of her where she was sitting on a staircase, killing her instantly.
On Tuesday, police received a tip that a 16-year-old boy had texted a classmate telling him he’d done ‘something bad at the park’ with another juvenile boy, also 16.
Further investigation led to the arrests of the two boys on Thursday, both from Logan, who reportedly confessed to police in an interview that they ‘were involved in forcing the log over the cliff.’
However, at a detention hearing on Friday afternoon both of the boys denied the offenses, according to the Chillicothe Gazette.
Senseless death: Killed exercising her passion
The Hocking Juvenile Court classified the two defendants as ‘Serious Youth Offenders’, which means the offense would have been classified as a violent offense if committed as an adult, and has found them to be dangers to themselves and others.
Both of the boys will be held in juvenile detention until further notice from the court.
Shafer, a mother of four children, owned a photography studio and was well known in her local community for her charity work, contributing to various causes over the years.
‘My wife, Victoria, was suddenly and tragically killed on Labor Day, September 2, 2019, while exercising her passion for photography at Hocking Hills State Park,’ her husband Fritz Shafer said on Facebook two weeks after her death. ‘An investigation is pending, and we are searching for answers.’
Not immediately understood is what led to the two teens throwing the log and whether they had planned to cause harm or egregious injury.
