Marlow is accused of gunning down Sarah J. Anderson, 41, and her 15-year-old daughter, Kayla E. Anderson, and Clyde W. Knox, 82, and his wife, Eva “Sally” Knox, 78, on Aug. 5, 2022, at their homes on Hardwicke Place.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Adkins on Monday ordered a third opinion to help determine whether Marlow is competent to stand trial and whether he knew right from wrong at the time of the slayings.
The first evaluation was performed by forensic psychiatrist Massimo De Marchis, who submitted his report on Feb. 1 stating Marlow was competent for trial. The second opinion evaluation was conducted by forensic psychologist Erin Nichting, whose report submitted March 24 indicated Marlow was incompetent to stand trial but restorable with treatment. The third opinion evaluation by forensic psychologist Jaime Adkins is due by May 17, court records show.
“This is truly a shocking and heinous crime, especially for the victims’ families and loved ones, but also for the residents of Butler Twp. and Vandalia,” county Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said following Marlow’s indictment in November. “The defendant, a graduate of Vandalia-Butler High School who graduated also from the University of Kentucky, coldly shot and killed four defenseless neighbors, including a high school student and her mother as well as an elderly couple including a military veteran.
“The death penalty should be reserved for the most horrific and shocking crimes. This case certainly meets that criteria,” Heck said.
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Marlow walked into the open garage at 7120 Hardwicke Place around 11:35 a.m. Aug. 5 and shot Sarah Anderson, a wife and mother who had just returned from grocery shopping. He went inside and shot Kayla Anderson while she was on the phone with a friend.
He next went to 7214 Hardwicke Place and entered a detached garage, where he shot the Knoxes. Clyde Knox was sitting in a lawn chair, and his wife was standing in the doorway of the garage when she was shot.
“All of the victims had been shot multiple times and were deceased” when first responders arrived, Heck said.
The victims’ homes are on either side of the Hardwicke Place intersection with Haverstraw Avenue, where Marlow lived with his parents in a home they owned just around the corner. A search of the Haverstraw Avenue home revealed a manifesto on a computer believed to be Marlow’s, Vandalia Municipal Court records state.
“The manifesto is typed out and in it, Stephen states his name, address and goes through his life. He spoke of conspiracy theories and believing his neighbors were almost all sleeper cell terrorists. He mentioned voices in his head that spoke to him as well.”
Marlow was arrested Aug. 6 in Lawrence, Kansas, after an officer there spotted his 2007 Ford Edge.
He told FBI agents during an Aug. 6 interview that he knew he couldn’t have firearms — he was convicted of aggravated burglary and aggravated menacing in February 2020 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for breaking into a Vandalia home in July 2019 in Vandalia and threatening the resident with a weapon — and Marlow “stated he deliberately circumvented that by traveling to Kentucky and meeting a private seller to obtain the firearms,” the court documents read. “Stephen admitted that his purpose for buying the firearms was to carry out his attack against the individuals he believed to be a part of a ‘terrorist cell.’ "
That same day, investigators discovered a storage unit belonging to Marlow on Dixie Drive, where Marlow said he kept the firearms to hide them from his mother. Surveillance footage showed him enter the property the day of the shootings and leave minutes before they occurred, according to court records.
Even if the judge rules Marlow is competent to stand trial and knew right from wrong at the time of the shootings, Marlow might not face capital punishment. His defense team could file a motion saying that he suffers from a serious mental illness, which could make him ineligible for a death sentence in Ohio.
Marlow remains held on $10 million bail in the Montgomery County Jail.
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