ZANESFIELD, OH (WCMH) – A Logan County man was found shot dead on Thanksgiving after his daughter found him in their home.
45-year-old Jeffrey Brentlinger was found in a pool of blood inside his rural home 10 miles northeast of Bellefontaine.
Logan County Sheriff Andy Smith said a neighbor told investigators he heard gunshots early Thanksgiving morning.
The call came into the Logan County Sheriff’s 911 Center at 10:58 a.m. from Brentlinger’s daughter.
“Does it appear that someone has injured him?” the 911 dispatcher asks.
“I have no clue, there is blood everywhere,” the daughter says.
Sheriff Smith said Brentlinger was home alone and was shot at least once. The daughter’s call to 911 shed more light on the chaotic scene.
“The front door is open and there is blood everywhere and the lights are on,” the daughter said.
“That is not how he would leave it?” asks the dispatcher.
“No,” she responds.
A neighbor who knows the family well said everyone in the rural community is still in shock.
“It definitely struck home, it really did, I locked down, checked everything, so very alert,” said Dakota Brannan.
Several neighbors called Brentlinger a gregarious person.
“He was just fun-loving, laughed a lot, smiled, I never saw a sad face on him,” Brannan said.
Sheriff Smith said this is the first shooting death in Logan County since another two days after Christmas last year. That shooter received five years in prison.
The Montgomery County Coroner is doing an autopsy which should tell when and how Brentlinger died, but the toxicology report could take months.
Neighbors said Brentlinger owned an above-ground pool company in the county and his two now-adult children attended Ben Logan High School.