Ohio Dad of 3 With ‘So Much Love to Give’ Shot to Death by Sons

A beloved Ohio doctor found shot to death at his home while his wife was away on vacation perplexes police in the latest episode of Crime in Progress on A&E. Raw body cam and unedited surveillance footage captured the shocking investigation as it unraveled in real time.

In Beachwood, Ohio, on August 9, 2018, Jane Warn returned home after a 10-day trip to London with her sister and brother-in-law, according to police reports. Expecting to be greeted by her husband, Dr. Richard Warn, Jane panicked and called police when she was unable to get into their home or contact him, despite all three of his vehicles being parked in the driveway.

Officers entered the residence and discovered Richard, 59, dead from an apparent shooting in the primary bedroom, according to police. Multiple rifle shell casings were recovered on the scene. An autopsy revealed he died from multiple gunshot wounds and was dead for several days before he was found, per authorities. But with no evidence of forced entry at the Warn home, investigators believed it was a targeted attack perpetrated by someone who knew the dad of three, reports said.

Richard’s wife, Jane, told detectives things had been tense between the couple and his two adult sons, Michael and Mark Warn, from his previous marriage. Richard often argued with Michael, 31, and Mark, 29, about money, and Jane described the brothers as “rotten,” police said.

“He had problems with his sons. They threatened him—to chop him up,” she said, according to police.

Jane said she was afraid of Michael in particular.

“You don’t know what he’s thinking,” she told investigators.

She said her stepsons previously broke into their home in 2015. The incident prompted Richard to reach out to his attorney to take steps to remove Mark and Michael from his will, but nothing was officially decided, according to the police report.

“They didn’t like me dating their father,” Jane said. “They wanted their father to give them everything, and they didn’t want to work, and the latest thing that he [Richard] told me that they told him was that ‘You made me, so you have to take care of us.'"

All the brothers talked about was “money, money, money,” she alleged, the report read.

Jane said Mark and Michael were unemployed and lived in a home purchased for them by their dad less than 20 miles away in South Euclid, Ohio. Richard paid all his sons’ bills, but they were still angry over their parents’ divorce and their dad’s subsequent second marriage to Jane, who initially did not share their Jewish faith, she told police.

With Michael and Mark unaccounted for, several family members expressed fear for their own safety, per police.

A SWAT team was sent out to the Warn brothers’ home in South Euclid, but their refusal to comply with police orders and surrender triggered an intense, hours-long standoff, during which several rounds of gunfire were exchanged between police and the suspects, according to authorities. No officers were injured.

To avoid sending the team into an ambush, SWAT deployed a tactical armored vehicle to breach the house. Eleven hours into the standoff, authorities flew a drone into an upstairs window, and both men were located deceased.

The medical examiner confirmed Michael and Mark died by suicide. Authorities at a press conference said they were “confident that once the evidence is fully processed it will reveal that Michael and/or Mark Warn committed this crime.”

Three of four firearms recovered at the residence in Euclid were believed to have been fired at the scene of Richard’s murder, authorities alleged, citing shell casings. Authorities surmised an ongoing financial dispute motivated the brothers to murder their dad. It was believed Richard had a $1 million life insurance policy, according to the investigation.

Danielle Besterman, who did not have a relationship with her brothers, eulogized their father at his funeral.

“Tati, I will love you every day for the rest of my life, and I know that you will be watching over me,” she said. “You had so much love to give and you were taken from this world much too soon.”