‘I Ought to Kill You': Ex-Ohio Police Chief Charged With Beating Wife Day Before Her Suicide
Prosecutor announced that Charles Gast had been charged with two accounts of domestic violence.
By David Edwards / Raw Story
August 5, 2015
A former Ohio police chief was charged this week with battering his wife one day before she reportedly hung herself in 2013.
Clark Gast, the former police chief in Aberdeen, said he discovered his wife, Laura, hanging from a ceiling fan in 2013. Investigators later ruled the death a suicide and said that that Clark Gast was not a suspect.
Family and friends, however, told WCPO at the time that they believed Laura Gast was murdered.
An autopsy report found that the ceiling fan she was hanging from “was not reachable from the chair” and that the noose was tied with multiple knots “she could hardly reach.”
The night before Laura Gast died, her 10-year-old daughter had taken photos showing bruises on her mother’s forehead, back and neck. WCPO noted that current Police Chief Greg Caudill, who was overseeing the investigation, was a life-long friend of Clark Gast, and that the two were seen out together in the days after Laura Gast’s death.
On Tuesday, Brown County Assistant Prosecutor Zac Corbin announced that Charles Gast had been charged with two accounts of domestic violence. WCPO named Laura Gast and her daughter as the victims.
According to a probably cause affidavit, Charles Gast had attacked his wife just one day before he called 911 to say that she had killed herself.
“nvestigators said he grabbed Laura by the throat, slammed her against a wall, lifted her in the air as she gasped for breath and told her ‘I ought to kill you,'” WCPO reported.
Laura Gast’s daughter also told investigators that Clark Gast beat her mother while she was in bed. And he choked the family dog when it tried to bite him.
“(Laura’s daughter) attempted to get the dog from Clark so he wouldn’t kill it and at that point Clark grabbed (the child) by the hair of her head and pulled her away,” the charging document noted. “(The girl) stated this caused her both pain and fear that Clark would injure her father.”
Laura Clark’s death was officially ruled a suicide in 2014. It reportedly took over six months for the Aberdeen Police Department to turn over their investigation to the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
“(I’m) very concerned someone’s getting away with murder,” the Brown County prosecutor wrote after Laura Gast’s death was ruled a homicide last year.
Clark Gast faces up to 180 days in jail for each count of domestic violence.
Watch the video from WCPO, broadcast Aug. 5, 2015.
Ex-Ohio police chief charged with beating wife day before she was found dead from suspected suicide
BY Deborah Hastings
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, August 5, 2015, 5:03 PM
Laura Gast suffered these bruises and marks at the hands of her husband, a former Ohio police chief, according to authorities. Clark Gast has been arrested on domestic violence charges. His wife died two years ago. WCPO
Laura Gast suffered these bruises and marks at the hands of her husband, a former Ohio police chief, according to authorities. Clark Gast has been arrested on domestic violence charges. His wife died two years ago.
The former police chief of a small Ohio town has been charged with attacking his wife — whose body was found two years ago hanging from a ceiling fan in their mobile home.
Clark Gast, 37, was booked on domestic violence charges Tuesday in the latest installment of the strange saga of Laura Gast's death in August 2013.
Gast beat, choked and slammed Laura, 40, against a wall, while shouting "I ought to kill you," according to a charging affidavit. The woman's 10-year-old daughter later took photographs of her mother's bruised and battered body, the document said, according to WCPO-TV.
The next day, Laura was found dead, hanging from a ceiling fan in the home she shared with Gast along the Ohio River. Her family claimed she was murdered. Authorities in Aberdeen, population about 1,600, said her death was a suicide.
It was not clear if additional charges would be filed.
Laura Gast, (l.), is seen here with husband Clark Gast, a former Ohio police chief who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly beating her. She died under mysterious circumstances two years ago.
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Laura Gast, (l.), is seen here with husband Clark Gast, a former Ohio police chief who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly beating her. She died under mysterious circumstances two years ago. Clark Gast, 37, the former police chief of Aberdeen, Ohio, was arrested on domestic violence charges Tuesday in the strange case of his wife’s 2013 death.
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Laura Gast, (l.), is seen here with husband Clark Gast, a former Ohio police chief who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly beating her. She died under mysterious circumstances two years ago.
Gast stepped down as Aberdeen police chief in 2012, after a closed-door meeting with the mayor. He had served for three years, The Ledger Independent reported. No reason was given for his resignation.
While serving as a patrolman some 10 years ago, Gast was charged as an accomplice to a fellow officer's alleged rape of a woman. The charges were dropped in 2006, the paper said.
Gast is being held without bail at a Brown County jail, officials said.
Laura Gast's daughter, who was not identified, told a special prosecutor that her mother was repeatedly hit and punched by Clark Gast the night of the attack. The girl had been visiting her mother and was terrified as she watched, she said.
Clark Gast: Ex-chief faces charges from day before wife died
WCPO - Cincinnati, OH
The girl and the family's pet dog were also assaulted by Clark Gast when both tried to intervene, she said.
Her mother later had the girl photograph injuries to her face, arms and legs as proof of the assault, the girl said.
Aberdeen police who investigated the wife's death at the time ruled it a suicide. Since then, the mayor has resigned, as has the police chief, according to local reports.
A special prosecutor was appointed by county officials to investigate the death.
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