Foster dad charged in stabbing

HEATHER FOWLER

Paul Efaw, 58, of SR 99, is in the Huron County jail awaiting a bond hearing today in Norwalk Municipal Court, Sutherland said.

Efaw was charged "based on evidence that was collected at the scene and the pathologist's report," Chief Deputy Bob Sutherland said.

From what Detective Matt Spencer and Detective Sgt. James Bracken gathered, the incident began with a verbal altercation between Connre and her 10-year-old foster brother, Bob Sutherland said.

Investigators were told that Efaw attempted to break up the altercation between the children and then went to a barn on the property with Connre, according to Bob Sutherland. The 10-year-old boy called 911 to report the altercation, according to a sheriff's report. The boy said during the 911 call that Connre had the knife, according to Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler.

"All we know is that they (Efaw and Connre) went into the barn and he (Efaw) came out and she (Connre) had been stabbed," Bob Sutherland said. Efaw told investigators that "it was an accident," Bob Sutherland said.

While in the barn, Efaw received a stab wound on the inside of his left forearm, the sheriff said, but he would not say how the injury occurred. Efaw had surgery for the injury Monday night at Fisher-Titus Medical Center, according to Sheriff Sutherland. There were no witnesses to the stabbings,the sheriff said.

Further details were unavailable as the investigation is not complete, the sheriff said, adding that the knife was a "large wooden-handled knife."

Investigators intend to further interview the 10-year-old boy and another child who lives at the residence, who is the natural child of Paul Efaw and his wife, Sheriff Sutherland said. "They (the children) definitely have to be traumatized. We're going to hold off a while and give them some free time away, so to speak, from the investigation," the sheriff said.

Efaw, who had worked for the Huron County Humane Society for 14 years, is currently unemployed, the sheriff said.

Meanwhile, at Monroeville Middle School, where Connre was a sixth-grader, counselors and clergymen were brought in to "take care of and comfort" her classmates yesterday, Superintendent Carol Girton said.

"One little boy was having an especially hard time because he had said some not-so-nice things to her the day before and now can never take it back," according to Girton.

Connre's homeroom teacher was also having a hard time yesterday as she remembered "a nice little girl" who had been a model student in class since April, when she was enrolled in the district, Girton said.

Dixon was originally from Willard. Her mother is Zandra Dixon, 37, of Egypt Road, Leffler confirmed. Zandra Dixon, who could not be reached yesterday, pleaded guilty earlier this month in Huron County Common Pleas Court to a charge of attempted theft of the elderly, according to court records.

Zandra Dixon was indicted in July for stealing a bank card from an elderly Willard woman who she was caring for and then stealing $3,600, Leffler said at Zandra Dixon's plea hearing. She is awaiting a sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Nov. 18, according to court records.

hrcfowler@aol.com