Brian Lee Ziessler (Hancock County Sheriff’s Office) and Sherri Lynn Ziessler (Hufford Family Funeral Home)
A 67-year-old man in Ohio may spend the remainder of his days behind bars after admitting to killing his wife, laying in wait inside the home before shooting her multiple times.
Hancock County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jonathan P. Starn on Wednesday ordered Brian Lee Ziessler to serve a sentence of 15 years to life in prison for the slaying of his 59-year-old wife of 14 years, Sherri Lynn Ziessler, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a press release from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to an emergency call on Nov. 15, 2021, at a residence in the 16000 block of TR 205. The caller — Ziessler — told the emergency dispatcher that his wife was “deceased.”
“What makes you think your wife is deceased?” the dispatcher asked in a recording of the 911 tape obtained by Toledo, Ohio ABC affiliate WTVG.
“Well, she’s stiff, there’s blood on the floor. I’ll talk to the deputies when they get here,” Ziessler can be heard saying in a calm and steady voice.
Asked if she was sick or suicidal, Ziessler responded, “I don’t know,” then explained his version of events.
“When I got up this morning to go to the bathroom, I found her laying in the bedroom on the floor,” he said. “I haven’t touched anything.”
He added that the couple’s shotgun was on the floor in the dining room, and his wife’s shirt had been pulled up and over her head, per the report. He also said that he had not heard anything out of the ordinary throughout the night.
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“When I woke up, our front door was standing wide open. The back door was wide open,” he said. “I’ve got cats. I have no idea where all my cats are.”
Once there, first responders found Sherri Lynn Ziessler dead from what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds. The department immediately said it was investigating the shooting “as a suspicious death.”
An autopsy determined that Ziessler’s wife’s manner of death was a homicide, and the cause of death was six gunshot wounds that caused her to bleed out within minutes, The Courier reported. The bullets were determined to have been fired from a handgun registered to Ziessler, reportedly found near his wife’s body.
Police arrested Brian Ziessler on Nov. 22, 2021, and charged him with his wife’s murder. After initially denying involvement in his wife’s death, Ziessler on Friday pleaded guilty to one count of murder, court records show.
According to the Courier, police responding to the 911 call noticed blood on Ziessler’s shoe, which, when tested, came back as a positive DNA match for his wife. When asked where the blood came from, Ziessler reportedly claimed that it was the blood of an opossum he had killed with a crowbar.
Security footage of Ziessler’s home showed Ziessler exhibiting very suspicious behavior two days before his wife’s death.
“The defendant was drinking and at approximately 8:22 p.m. the defendant is seen looking out the window near the front door awaiting his wife’s return, while hiding a handgun in his right hand down by his side,” prosecutors wrote in court documents. “Further, as Sherrie Ziessler approaches the door, the defendant is seen quickly hiding the handgun.”
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