COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ten months after his bedridden wife died of an overdose of prescription drugs, a Milford Center man has been arrested for her murder.
Jon Costell, 56, was indicted this week by a Union County grand jury on one count of aggravated murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of failing to provide for a functionally impaired person and one count of domestic violence, says Capt. Jeff Frisch of the Multi Agency Drug Enforcement Task Force.
Costell was arraigned Wednesday, with bond set at $500,000. Online jail records did not say if he had an attorney.
Frisch says the charges resulted from an investigation by the task force, the Union County Coroner’s Office and the Ohio Department of Medicaid into the death of Debra Costell in September 2013.
Jon Costell called 911 at approximately 5:30 on the morning of September 25, 2013, to report that his wife was not breathing, Frisch said. Debra Costell, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene and coroner David Applegate ordered an autopsy be performed.
The autopsy conducted by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office determined that Debra Costell had died from “acute intoxication by the combined effects” the antidepressant Sertraline and the painkiller Tramadol, Frisch said.
Home health care aids, nurses and physicians confirmed for investigators that Debra Costell was unable to walk, Frisch said.
The Columbus Dispatch reports the Union County prosecutor says that authorities don’t believe it was act of mercy and that the couple had a history of trouble, including earlier domestic violence allegations.
The MADE task force – made up of representatives from the Marysville Police Department, the Union County prosecutor, and the Union County Sheriff’s Office — investigates drug related deaths and offenses.