Chance Donohoe, Columbus, Ohio man sentenced to life jail without the chance of parole for 30 years after fatally stabbing ex-girflriend, Shannon Hiott days after breaking up with him. The former boyfriend is alleged to set have set off in a rage after believing his ex to now be seeing someone else.
An Ohio man will not be eligible for parole for more than 30 years after admitting to breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home after she broke up with him and fatally stabbing her more than 30 times.
Chance Donohoe, 27, was ordered on Thursday to serve a life sentence in jail without the possibility of parole for at least 31 years in the murder of Shannon Leah Hiott, 29.
Former boyfriend flies off in rage after believing ex to be seeing someone new
Donohoe had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in July to aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse in the Aug. 29, 2023 stabbing death of Shannon Hiott, as well as receiving stolen property in a separate case.
Columbus police got a call at 6:05 a.m. on Aug. 29 about a possible dead body at a home on the 1400 block of Berkley Road. Officers arrived and found Hiott, who had been stabbed dozens of times. A short time later, Donohoe, Hiott’s ex-boyfriend, called police to confess he had killed her.
Donohoe later admitted to investigators breaking into Hiott’s home and stabbing her multiple times days after the woman breaking up with him a week earlier and demanding he move out of her apartment.
Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Dan Lenert said Donohoe screwed Hiott’s front door shut while leaving the home after killing Hiott and abusing her body.
Lenert said Donohoe lurked outside Hiott’s home and saw a car belonging to another man he knew, triggering his jealousy and the belief she was now seeing someone new. Donohoe then drove more than 20 miles to the home in Powell where he had been staying, changed into all-black clothing, grabbed a knife and drove more than 20 miles back to Hiott’s home according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Short felt relief after break up
‘I can only imagine what was going through Shannon’s mind as he busts in her door and starts stabbing her. He told the police he slit her throat to speed up the process,’ Lenert said. ‘This was not drugs, this is not ketamine, this is not methamphetamine, this is not cocaine, this is someone that’s angry. He’s pissed off about posts being made about him on social media. He’s upset about their breakup and he goes to her house that night and sees a vehicle from another man that he knows that he recognizes.’
Hiott and Donohoe had dated for about a year and a half before Hiott breaking off the relationship. At the time, Hiott had blocked Donohoe’s phone number and deleted him from her social media accounts.
Posted Hiott on social media days after their break-up: ‘I stopped trying to be the catalyst of change in my relationship, and the truth was revealed. I am so much happier than I was a couple weeks ago.’
Hiott had changed the locks on her doors and installed security cameras, even having other people take some of Donohoe’s belongings back to him to avoid face-to-face interaction.
But none of that stopped him from breaking into her home and killing her, prosecutors had argued.
Ongoing addiction issues
Donohoe’s attorney, Joe Landusky, wrote in a filing made before Thursday’s hearing that Donohoe had been in and out of counseling since he was 5 years old and struggled with addiction issues for years. On the night Donohoe killed Hiott, Landusky said Donohoe used marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine in addition to drinking alcohol.
A letter written by Donohoe’s mother, Ashley Radca, said she didn’t know what prompted her son to go on the rampage, calling it out of character. She wrote she believed that ‘being unmedicated, mental health issues, drug use, a toxic relationship and a feeling of desperation and despair’ led to Donohoe’s actions.
‘What he did was beyond terrible, and he must pay a consequence for his actions,’ Donohoe’s mother wrote. ‘For a long time, I have been worried that Chance would hurt himself, but I was never afraid that he may hurt someone else.’
Landusky had asked the judge according to a sentencing memorandum to give Donohoe the opportunity for parole so he would have something to work toward while in prison.
