Cortland, OhioApril 15, 1954Leavittsburg, OhioApril 16, 1954 A Gunshot and A Leap Within the first months of 1954, three Cortland children became orphaned. Their mother died from cancer on January 29th, leaving their father to raise them alone. Yet on Thursday, April 15th, they discovered his lifeless body in the garage with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Their father’s name was Marvin Hayden Barnard and he was forty-five years old. Less than 24 hours later, early Friday morning, a Leavittsburg woman went missing. Thirty-three-year-old Maxine Elliott Hickox had been estranged from her husband and sought a divorce. Around midnight, police discovered her locked car parked on Denman Road near the Mahoning River. Breaking in, they found all of her possessions, including clothing, money, and purse. Within the purse, a suicide note addressed to her husband read, “This is the best way out of my heartaches.” The missing person search immediately turned into a body recovery. The Mahoning River ran ten feet deep along that stretch and police came to the assumption that she had left her vehicle and drowned herself. Torrential rains from the night previous had washed away any clues of where she may have entered the … Continue reading “The Best Way Out Of My Heartaches”: A Double Suicide in Trumbull County