9/17/2021- 10:34 p.m.
Michigan — The man accused of stabbing and killing a woman and injuring her two children in a home southeast of Rockford on Thursday was arrested in Ohio.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Department says the killing happened in a home on Cannon Place Drive NE off Myers Lake Avenue north of Belding Road in Cannon Township. Deputies were called there around 7:25 p.m. Thursday on a welfare check.
They found 25-year-old Ciara Paul dead of apparent stab wounds.
They also found her two children, a 2-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, inside the home with injuries. They were rushed to the hospital, where they were listed in stable condition Friday.
The sheriff’s office says Jacob Alec Ryan, 29, now faces charges of open murder and assault with intent to murder.
Ryan was arrested around 10 p.m. Thursday by Toledo police. They told News 8 he was taken into custody after he was found at the Greyhound station.
He’s being held in the Lucas County, Ohio, Jail pending extradition to Michigan.
A makeshift memorial for Paul grew Friday outside the home where she died, with yellow flowers and a sign that read, “RIP Cierra. We’ll miss you.”
A neighbor who ask not to be identified said Paul’s household was ‘volatile.’
“We’ve been doing best we can to support her and wrap community around her and her kids because we watched her go through so much volatility, watched what they’re gone through, tried doing things for her and reach out as a community,” the neighbor said.
Ryan, the neighbor said, made her feel uneasy.
“He would wait for us to pull in driveway and come out to be weird and creep us out,” she said. “And what can you do when cops can’t do anything to stop him from doing that? Creepy doesn’t matter.”
