Home Invasion Suspects in Custody

MUSKINGUM CO. – Two suspect are in custody following a home invasion.

The incident occurred on February 13th at a home on Gills Hollow Rd. in Cannelsville.

Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz says a lone male victim in his 70’s was severely beaten inside of the home.

Two suspects 38-year-old John McFarland and 22-year-old John Hill are in jail for several charges including aggravated burglary and felonious assault.

The victim did survive his injuries and the investigation is ongoing.

“We don’t think that the victim knew these two suspects but the two suspects ended up at this residence through an acquaintance if the victim, so, I don’t know if the two suspects and the victim personally knew each other. I don’t think that, but, they didn’t just pick this house out of the blue. There was kind of an acquaintance between the suspect and the victim and that’s how these guys ended up here,” Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

The acquaintance Sheriff Lutz mentioned is a person of interest and he said there are more charges that could be filed in this case.

“The severity of it I think is what kind of wakes you up when you start thinking about how severe this guy was beaten; the victim. So, the good thing is one of these guys; I’m not going to elaborate too much on them yet. One of these individuals doesn’t have much of a criminal record (and) the other one does and I think he’s been involved in some of these before so to get him off of the street I think is a huge thing for us to make sure that he’s not out there being able to do this to somebody else,” Lutz said.

Lutz said the victim is undergoing medical treatment and doing pretty well towards recovery.