Wife 'attacked husband with Taser and suffocated him to death with saran wrap in argument about money' before faking his suicide

  • Jeane Harrington told police that her husband, Michael Grabel, killed himself over financial troubles
  • She told police she found his body with plastic wrap around his head
  • An autopsy determined that Grabel's death actually was caused by asphyxiation, blows to his head and body, and electrical burns
  • Harrington told police she shot him with a Taser earlier in the day

By Daily Mail Repoter and Ap

Published: 22:55 EST, 12 July 2014 | Updated: 10:19 EST, 13 July 2014

An Ohio woman who called 911 to report that her husband committed suicide by suffocating himself has been charged with his 2011 murder.

A three-year investigation into the death of 55-year-old Michael Gabel concluded that he didn't commit suicide and that his wife, Jeane Harrington, had killed him, police said. She had reported Gabel's death to police, saying she found him dead with plastic wrap around his head.

'We know that suicide in this manner is very unusual,' Duane Streator, police chief of Avon Lake, told reporters Friday.

'Killer': Authorities say Jeane Harrington, who reported her husband's 'suicide' to police, actually murdered him

'Killer': Authorities say Jeane Harrington, who reported her husband's 'suicide' to police, actually murdered him

Streator said there was no immediate evidence of a struggle, but the Lorain County coroner ultimately determined Gabel died of asphyxiation, blows to his head and body, and electrical burns.

Harrington, 56, was arrested Thursday, and her son - 11 when Gabel died - was turned over to a relative.

In the 911 call, Harrington had reported that Gabel, a local car salesman, left a suicide note, and she described heavy debts coming due, suggesting he'd taken his own life.

 

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Harrington told police she owned a stun gun and had used it several times on Gabel in a fight earlier that evening that she described as 'mutual.' She said the disagreement centered on the couple's financial woes.

'He got a letter from the Internal Revenue Service the other day wanting $17,000,' Harrington said during the call. 'And then the following day he got a letter from some collection company wanting $16,000. And tomorrow they're supposed to sell our home at sheriff's auction.'

'Murdered': Police say Michael Gabel was murdered by his wife, Jeane Harrington, who they say shot him with a Taser and put plastic wrap over his face

'Murdered': Police say Michael Gabel was murdered by his wife, Jeane Harrington, who they say shot him with a Taser and put plastic wrap over his face

Harrington said she last saw her husband alive at 2 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2011, when he walked from the den to the bathroom. She found his cold body on a sofa later that morning after she returned from errands, she said.

Authorities now believe she stunned Gabel multiple times before suffocating him with industrial-strength, restaurant-grade plastic wrap.

It wasn't immediately clear who is currently representing Harrington. A message was left for a lawyer who represented her in 2005 during divorce proceedings, which ended in reconciliation, and with another lawyer who represented her in a 2007 foreclosure case.

Divorce filings indicated Harrington's pay at the Avon Public Library gift shop had been halved and that Gabel had used money from a 401(k) account and from mortgaging the couple's rental property to pay gambling debts.

Streator said police had been called to the couple's address before on domestic issues.

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It took 3 years to figure this out? one look at her tell's you she is bat crazy.

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Bet the feminists believe that she is the real victim in all this

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I'll never understand how people kill and then continue living as normal. Even if she hated his guts she had no right. Poor man. I don't know how she slept at night.

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How evil! What a horrible way to die. Vile woman

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So will there now be calls for a waiting period and background check prior to Saran Wrap purchases?

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When you include contract killing and killing of exes by new partners under female instruction, as many men are killed by partners as women. Something you will never hear. Also where domestic violence is not reciprocated, that is perpetrated by only one person in a relationship, 70% of that time it is the female. You will never hear this either. I wonder what tv campaign we will get this year of a man hitting a woman to vilify men. Maybe one day we will get honesty and they will do a campaign against single mothers beating their children creating violent adults?. The single biggest cause.

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Cue the blase jokes, domestic violence, (when towards men), really is a giggle.

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With a wife like her its surprising he didn't beat her to the job.

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she looks evil

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Saran wrap, do you mean cling film DM?

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Saran Wrap is an actual brand name of "cling film" here in the US.

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yes Beach Rose, but this paper isn't in the US

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