Teen’s Body Exhumed Amid Protests

ERIE COUNTY, Ohio – Dozens of people held a peaceful protest at an Erie County cemetery as the body of a 19-year-old man was exhumed for the second time.

Michael Limberios knelt on his son, Jacob’s, grave, circled by dozens of friends, loved ones and complete strangers, as the heavy machinery rolled closer to exhume the body of Jacob “Jake” Limberios by order of the Sandusky County coroner.

“It makes me absolutely sick that people would do this to a family, that Sandusky County has no heart,” Jake’s brother, Michael Limberios, Jr., said.

Instead of physically blocking the workers from digging up Jake’s body, as initially planned, the crowd stood aside.

“If it doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow,” Shannon Limberios said.

Jake was shot in the head in March of 2012, at a home in Clyde in Sandusky County.

The Sandusky County Sheriff’s Office did not call a detective to the scene and the coroner did not order an autopsy on Jake.

The coroner ruled Jake’s death a suicide based on witness statements.

“We know, and I think Sandusky County would agree, I really do, that this was not a suicide,” Jake’s mother, Shannon Limberios, said.

Jake’s parents had his body exhumed a few months later and hired their own pathologist to do an autopsy.

The pathologist determined someone else shot Jake.

The Sandusky coroner won’t change Jake’s death certificate and now has requested that a Lucas County pathologist conduct a second autopsy.

“I think that they messed up the investigation from the beginning and they are trying to save themselves. They are drowning,” Michael Limberios, Jr. said

Jake’s parents believe someone in the house accidentally shot and killed Jake while handling the gun.

All they want is Jake’s death certificate changed from suicide to homicide, and to have him finally rest in peace.

Sandusky County Special Prosecutor Dean Henry would not comment on why they are exhuming Jake’s body for a second autopsy, saying it is part of a criminal investigation.

Henry said he was pleased to see that everything was peaceful during as Jake’s body was exhumed Wednesday morning.