Three Day Manhunt for “Facebook Killer” Ends in Suicide

Steven “Facebook Killer” Stephens shoots himself after fleeing police for three days.

Easter is a day for celebration with family and loved ones. Unfortunately, for one family that celebration was cut short Sunday afternoon, when Robert Godwin Sr., a 74 year-old man was fatally shot on his walk home on Easter Sunday.  Apparently, Godwin Sr. had just left his family and was walking home on a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon, when a random man, Steven Stephens, pulled up on him in a white Ford Fusion car, got out and preceded to record a video leading up to the very last moment when Stephens fatally shot Godwin Sr. in the head, ending his life.

Steven Stephens posted the video on Facebook, which in a very short amount of time made national media attention. Stephens also claimed to have had killed plenty of other people previously, but his reasons for shooting Godwin Sr. was because of his ex-girlfriend who had not been returning his calls. Godwin Sr. was not the intended target, but was rather chosen at random by Stephens when he decided that he was going to kill someone.

For three days, Stephens fled police leaving Cleveland, Ohio (where the shooting occurred) and traveling out east. Stephens was categorized as armed and dangerous and as a result many states in the northeast were on high alert in efforts to catch the fugitive. However, it all came to an end on Tuesday when Stephens took his life after a police chase that left him cornered by police. Stephens was identified after pulling up to a McDonalds drive-thru in Pennsylvania. When the drive-thru employee realized who he was, she alerted the rest of the employees and they all tried to stall by not making it obvious that they were holding his order up while trying to contact the police. Stephens drove off after realizing what the employees were trying to do, but not in enough time to dodge the police. Police went on a car chase after Stephens and it ended when Stephens shot himself, taking his own life before the police could get to the doors of his car.

The family of Robert Godwin Sr. have been mourning the loss of a dad, grandfather, and husband. My condolences goes out to his family, who are dealing with such heavy hearts at the moment. There is a GoFundMe page which has been set up in honor of Godwin Sr. If you would like to donate the family of Godwin Sr., you can do so by clicking here. Lastly, I’d like to end this blog with a quote by David Levithan that says, “What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we've never met.” Rest in peace Robert Godwin Sr.