Court documents made public on Thursday reveal new details about the deaths of a woman and three children in Indiana, including that the murder suspect and the adult victim were in a relationship.
Police allege that 21-year-old Cohen Bennet Hancz-Barron killed his girlfriend, Sarah Zent, and the children inside a residence in Fort Wayne on Wednesday, according to the criminal affidavit. Zent’s age, as well as the ages and names of the children who were found dead, are redacted.
Police arrived at the residence around 10:45 a.m. Wednesday and encountered a man and woman yelling, “He killed them, they’re dead,” according to the affidavit.
When they entered the home, police found the three children lying facedown on a bed with the woman kneeling beside it.
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“All of the victims had significant injuries to their necks consistent with having been inflicted with a sharp object,” the affidavit said.
Witnesses who spoke with officers led investigators to Hancz-Barron, whom authorities arrested at around 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in Lafayette, about 115 miles from Fort Wayne.
One of the witnesses, Hancz-Barron’s stepmother, said he called her randomly at 12:30 a.m. that morning to wish her a happy birthday, the affidavit said. The stepmother had not spoken with Hancz-Barron for two years, she told officers.
Police also reviewed surveillance footage from a nearby school which showed lights on at the residence early Wednesday morning before a Ford truck drove away from the residence. Officers suspect Hancz-Barron drove the vehicle.
The affidavit revealed investigators used digital intelligence, along with other information, to track the suspect down. Police found a knife with an apparent bloodstain on it when they arrested Hancz-Barron, who had scratches and cuts on his neck, face, and wrist that were consistent with fingernail scratches, according to the affidavit.
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The Fort Wayne Police Department announced a manhunt in connection with the deaths before the arrest was made on Wednesday and named Hancz-Barron as the suspect, whom the department identified as “armed and dangerous.”
“It’s a very gruesome scene in there,” police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Webb said Wednesday, according to Indianapolis-based CBS affiliate WTTV. “There are three murdered children.”
Hancz-Barron is being held without bond in the Allen County Jail on four preliminary counts of murder, according to the Associated Press.
