Ohio couple fake brutal murder, send gruesome ‘crime scene’ photo to family members – Cops charged them with inducing panic
Micah Risner, 29, and his fiancée, Nataleigh Schlette staged a murder and sent the very realistic crime scene photos to family members
The pair sent on Facebook photos of a woman apparently covered in blood, with a knife nearby and message “Please help me! I really didn’t mean to. I don’t remember. We was arguing and I woke up to this.”
Responding officers found Schlette was alive and well, couple told authorities that it was a hoax
Police charged Risner and Schlette with inducing panic
Risner claims they sent the photo to family members to induce his sister to come over to his house because she owed him money
Micah Risner [right] and Nataleigh Schlette faked a murder and sent the crime scene photos to family members.
Micah Risner, 29, and his fiancée Nataleigh Schlette were charged with inducing panic after they faked a murder and sent fake bloody pictures to family members.
Police in Sandusky saidthey received two alarming phone calls saying Nataleigh Schlette had been brutally murdered by Risner.
One of the callers said Risner sent a photo of what appeared to show the victim [Schlette] covered in blood in a bathtub in the couple’s home.
“It looked very real. It looked like someone had been murdered or could have been self-inflicted,” police chief John Orzech said.
“You don’t know at the time, but if you look at the photo just getting it, it looks like a real crime scene incident.”
Adult delinquents: Ohio couple Micah Risner [right] and fiancée Nataleigh Schlette, faked her very realistic murder scene using tomato ketchup
Along with the gruesome image, Risnersent series of texts to his sister Mimi, conveying a sense of panic and cofusion. He claimed he could not recall events leading to the incident.
“Please help me! I really didn’t mean to. I don’t remember,” he wrote. “We was arguing and I woke up to this.”
A panicked Mimi asked her brother if Schlette was dead and he responded with a request for a way ou. Risner told his sister to come get him.
Unaware that a crime hadn’t actually been committed, Mimi agreed to pick up her brother and also seemingly texted him instructions on how to cover up the murder.
Micah’s first message to sister Mimi
Mimi responds
Micah’s continues with the charade
Mimi offers her solution
“Take your clothes and throw them in a dumpster far away,” she wrote in one text, telling him in another message to delete his texts.
When police did arrive to the couple’s home, Schlette was alive and well and told authorities that it was a hoax. Risner also confirmed that the murder photo was not real. He told them he had created the realistic scene using tomato ketchup, then placed a knife next to his Schlette.
Cops said Risner sent the photo to family members because he was trying to get his sister to come over to his house because she allegedly owed him money.
“They created a scenario in someone’s mind that something really bad happened,” Orzech said. “The lesson for them is that they have to be accountable for their actions.”
Micah posts Facebook explanation about the fake murder
Based on the tone of his last posting on the subject, who believes Micah learnt a lesson about being childish?
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